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ONE Championship 160: Thanh Le training with UFC’s Cory Sandhagen ahead of Tang Kai title defence

  • Le working with UFC bantamweight ahead of title defence against China’s Tang, slated for ONE 160 on August 26
  • Featherweight champ is also back to work with his long-time friend Ryan Hall, a decorated BJJ black belt

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ONE featherweight champion Thanh Le (centre) trains with UFC bantamweight contender Cory Sandhagen (second from left). Photo: Instagram/@thanhlemma

ONE Championship featherweight king Thanh Le has enlisted the help of one of the UFC’s top fighters ahead of his fight with Tang Kai.

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The Vietnamese-American champ is slated to defend his title against China’s Tang in the co-headlining attraction of ONE 160 on August 26 in Singapore.

He is clearly taking the challenge seriously, having invited Cory Sandhagen, the UFC’s No 4-ranked bantamweight contender, to his training home of Mid City MMA in New Orleans.

Thanh Le knocks out Garry Tonon at ONE: Lights Out. Photo: ONE Championship.
Thanh Le knocks out Garry Tonon at ONE: Lights Out. Photo: ONE Championship.

“So grateful and lucky to have this team around me,” Le, 36, wrote in a recent Instagram post that included a photo from a training session with Sandhagen. “The accumulative knowledge of martial arts and of me as a fighter and a person are impossible to find anywhere else.”

Le (13-2) has also been working with UFC lightweight and decorated Brazilian jiu jitsu black belt Ryan Hall, who is a regular feature of his training camps.

The fight with Tang will be the champion’s first since a devastating, 56-second knockout win over grappling ace Garry Tonon, which kept his impressive, 100 per cent finishing rate in tact.

Cory Sandhagen knocks Frankie Edgar out with a flying knee in February, 2021. Photo: Zuffa LLC
Cory Sandhagen knocks Frankie Edgar out with a flying knee in February, 2021. Photo: Zuffa LLC

The champion has made it clear ahead of his upcoming title defence that he is forecasting another stoppage victory.

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