ONE Featherweight World Champion Thanh Le’s striking may be one of the strongest skills in his arsenal, but the Vietnamese-American fighter is raring to showcase his grappling prowess on the global stage, too.

The Vietnamese-American star believes that his upcoming World Title defense against top-ranked featherweight contender Tang Kai in the co-main event of ONE 160 on August 26, will be the perfect opportunity to prove that he is just as dangerous on the canvas as he is on the feet.

“Obviously, I’m a striker dude in the cage. But I’m a jiu-jitsu guy, too,” Le said.

“The last two fights that I’ve had in ONE were for the belt, so I definitely hung my hat on my strong suit to try to capitalize there. And the last matchup was against one of the best grapplers on the planet [Garry Tonon]. It might not be the best situation to dive into grappling with him the entire fight, right?”

“But who knows, maybe we get a little grappling in on this fight. Let’s see [Tang] throw one of those double-legs, and see how it ends up for him.”

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Le started his venture into martial arts at his father’s taekwondo dojo when he was a young boy, but he has added more dimensions to his game since beginning his professional career in MMA almost ten years ago.

ONE featherweight champion Thanh Le received BJJ black belt under Ryan Hall

Most recently, the 50/50 and Mid City MMA representative was promoted to a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt by his longtime coach and renowned grappler, Ryan Hall, proving he’s more than just a striker.

“You can’t fight without knowing jiu-jitsu – you’re just going to get mauled. [When I started, I was] like, ‘Okay, let’s learn this art, this thing that people want us to do.’ And then, just like I knew I would, I fell in love with it because it’s a wonderful martial art.”

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Although grappling hasn’t been part of his martial arts journey from the start, Le is confident that he can rely on his ground knowledge to pick apart Tang and retain his belt in just a few short weeks.

Read More – “He Dies 10 Times Out of 10”: Thanh Le Shares His Plans for Tang Kai at ONE 160

Download the ONE Super App to see if the ONE Featherweight World Champion can work his magic on the canvas against Tang Kai at ONE 160 on August 26.