Thanh Le will face Ilya Freymanov for a new ONE interim featherweight champion because of an injury to reigning featherweight champion Tang Kai.
On October 6, an interim featherweight champion will be decided in the ONE championship during the ONE Fight Night 15 to be held at Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand. Thanh Le and Ilya Freymanov will compete against each other for the title. Confirmation of the matchup was confirmed by ONE Championship officials on Friday.
The interim title fight was organized due to a complication when reigning featherweight champion Tang Kai got injured, preventing him from defending his belt. He had initially won the championship beating Le in August 2022. However, due to his present condition, Tang will have to wait until he is back to health to unify the title. Amidst these developments, Le aims to capture the interim title. He has previously won five consecutive matches under the ONE championship, marked by significant victories over Martin Nguyen and grappling sensation Garry Tonon.
Le has an impressive track record in ONE, boasting a 5-1 record, inclusive of five knockouts, with his only defeat being due to Tang. On the other hand, the Russian contender, Freymanov, is on a winning streak with an existing 2-0 résumé in the ONE Championship, including a victory over Nguyen and a submission win over Shinechagtga Zoltsetseg in June. Freymanov holds a 12-2 record in total. He is determined to capture the interim title in just his third fight with ONE, which is scheduled against Lee in October. The ONE Fight Night 15 lineup that includes Le vs. Freymanov also features three more title fights across Muay Thai and kickboxing, and a grappling supermatch between Mikey Musumeci and ex-ONE champion Shinya Aoki. The card is set to air live on Amazon Prime Video starting at 8 p.m. ET on October 6.