By The Numbers: Thanh Le

Thanh Le has done nothing but reward One Championship’s faith in him.

“The Ultimate Fighter” Season 22 graduate signed with the Chatri Sityodtong-fronted company in 2019, raced out to a 3-0 start with his new employer and then challenged for the undisputed featherweight crown. Le struck gold at One Championship “Inside the Matrix” on Oct. 30, as he brought down Martin Nguyen with punches 2:19 into the third round of their co-feature. The win pushed his overall record to 12-2 and enhanced his reputation as one of the sport’s premier lighter-weight finishers.

While Le awaits word on his first title defense, a look at some of the numbers that have accompanied him to this point:

35: Years of age for Le, who was born on Aug. 28, 1985 in Owensboro, Kentucky, a city of some 60,000 people located roughly 100 miles southwest of Louisville.

6: Featherweight titleholders, including Le, in One Championship history. Nguyen, Marat Gafurov, Narantungalag Jadambaa, Koji Oishi and Honorio Banario are the others. Nguyen has enjoyed the longest reign so far at 1,169 days.

11: Le wins by knockout or technical knockout, accounting for 92% of his career total (12). His list of victims includes Kotetsu Boku, Yusup Saadulaev, Bobby Moffett and Lazar Stojadinovic. Le owns one other win by submission.

27: Seconds needed for Le to put away Shawn Fitzsimmons with a volley of elbows at World Fighting Championships 27 on Sept. 12, 2014. Having occurred in his fourth professional appearance, it remains his fastest stoppage victory to date.

8: First-round finishes to Le’s credit. He delivered the first of them on April 5, 2014, when he blew away Justin Martin with punches in 2:44 inside the Lousiana-based Xtreme Fighting Championships organization.

73: Combined wins between the four men—Nguyen, Boku, Saadulaev and Ryogo Takahashi—Le has beaten since he joined the One Championship roster in 2019. They own a cumulative record of 73-30-3 (.689).

7: Promotions in which Le has competed as a mixed martial artist. He has gone 4-0 in One Championship, 2-1 in the Legacy Fighting Alliance, 2-0 in World Fighting Championships, 1-1 in Renaissance MMA, 1-0 in Dana White’s Contender Series, 1-0 in Xtreme Fighting Championships and 1-0 in Mid City Fight Productions.

2: Losses on the Le ledger. He submitted to a first-round rear-naked choke from Robert Dunn at Renaissance MMA 29 on Nov. 8, 2013 and succumbed to first-round punches from Kevin Aguilar at LFA 40 on May 25, 2018.