Ilya Freymanov vs Thanh Le Prediction: We Chose Our Championship

ONE Fight Night 15 will occur on the evening of October 7th in Thailand. Russia's Ilya Freymanov will share the cage with Vietnamese-American Thanh Le for the interim featherweight belt in the main event.

Ilya Freymanov is an up-and-coming fighter who undeservedly gets little attention. A former kickboxer, he honed his skills in Thailand and made his MMA debut in 2014. After having a good time in various Russian leagues (only two losses), he came to ONE last year and made the entire Asian community shudder.

In his debut fight, Ilya knocked out former champion Martin Nguyen in the first round. In the summer, he defeated ONE Warrior winner Shinechagtga Zoltsetseg in the first round as well. Now Freymanov is undefeated for five bouts, all of them early. And who better to judge a fighter than his opponent?

He’s very good. He’s done some damage in the division, so that’s very appealing to me that he puts a hurting on people. He comes forward. He’s aggressive. He’s very skilled. So it’s really nice to get a name like that.

Thanh Le

Thanh Le is a veteran fighter and former ONE lightweight champion. He performed a cool knockout on the Contender Series in 2017, but he didn't sign a contract with the UFC for some reason. Since 2019, Thanh Le has been competing in ONE, winning five bouts and becoming a champion, but he still lost the title in his last fight. After such a painful defeat, Thanh Le is very aggressive as he has no intention of repeating it.

I’ll give you a two-part prediction. I think if he comes out, feels a little bit of movement and power, and doesn’t change his game plan, then it’ll be a first-rounder. If he is a smart fighter, if he makes his adjustments and doesn’t get put out early, I think it’s maybe a late third-round finish. But it’s going to be a finish. I say this every fight. And I was right, except for the last fight. That’s the first time I’ve ever gone to a decision. It was nasty. I didn’t like it. We are not going to a decision. I promise you this.

Thanh Le

The firepower of both fighters does not give us a chance even to think that the bout will take any time, considering that it is scheduled for five rounds. Regarding the winner, Le has been on a certain level for a while now, while Ilya Freymanov is making rapid progress. In every fight, he surprises his opponents with new tricks and challenges they have never faced before. It will be the same this time. Ilya's progress has been awe-inspiring.