Going to the judge’s scorecards will never be in Thanh Le’s future.
ONE Championship’s Featherweight Champion Le has his first title assignment on December 4, Garry Tonon, and he is very excited about the match-up.
“You know, I really enjoy this one. I think it’s a very interesting fight, obviously. It is the classic striker vs. grappler match up – old school mixed martial arts type of event. So it is really cool to be a part of it,” Le told Cageside Press in an exclusive interview. “It’s really cool to get this match up because it brings back the nostalgia of the classic striker vs. grappler fights. Obviously, he is a very, very high-level grappler who is developing his striking, and I feel the opposite of that coin. I’m a very high live striker, and I’ve been working on my grappling game for a long time.”
“He’s a superior grappler, and I’m a superior striker, so we’ll see how it plays out come December.”
Le has a 100% finish rate with 11 knockouts and one submission. In fact, he has never gone to the judge’s scorecards, win or lose. He has only been to a third-round once, and that was most recently in his championship-winning performance. He takes pride in his finishing rate and plans on continuing his 100% rate in December.
Le says he will probably never lose a decision because, in his mind, it is kill or be killed. Oh, and because he has seen some horrible decisions.
“I just happen to be hardworking and been in the game long enough and blessed enough to come across the striking ability that I only need to touch you once or twice. So if you let that happen, bad things tend to happen. It works out well with the finishing rate, but it works the other way, too, on the losing side. It’s kill or be killed,” Le said. “I’m trying not to have any holes in my game, but they do exist. I’m not ever- I’ll probably never lose a decision. I’ll go put my neck on the line, and if I think I’m losing the fight, you’re going to get all of me. You might knock me out and put me to sleep, but I’m not going to let it go into the judge’s hands. I’ve seen too many bad calls.”
Watch the rest of Thanh Le’s interview above, where he talks about his title-winning performance, Garry Tonon, DJ vs. Rodtang, potentially going for a second title, and more.
