Kill Cliff FC’s Tial Thang is on the Main Card for ONE 164 Saturday, December 3, at 6 a.m. ET. Why 6 a.m.? The big bantamweight fight against Jeremy Pacatiw takes place in Manilla’s Mall of Asia Arena, so, depending on where you are, it’s a bit aways.
“The Dragon Leg” Thang is 3-1-0 since turning pro but the 25-year-old is just starting his training at KCFC in Florida. He’s coming off a loss to Min Jong Song way back in August of ’21, and the two scheduled ONE Championship bouts after that were either cancelled (Jose Delgado) or shortened by a groin kick for a no contest (Sunoto Peringkat).
In other words, Thang (that makes for a far better nickname!), is eager to get back into the octagon and start cashing in on his youthful promise.
Thang is mentored by KCFC’s Aung La N Sang, who was Thang’s inspiration to take up MMA after a 50-match-win record in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and a staggering 500+ victories in schoolboy grappling. Here’s a touching passage from Thang’s bio:
Seeing someone from Myanmar living his dreams lit a fire beneath Tial, and he set out to train under Aung La immediately. When he finally met the Myanmar icon, Tial’s life changed forever. Aung La told him that he would not succeed if he was not fully committed to training, causing Tial to take a leap of faith. He quit a well-paying job and moved across the country just to train with his hero, and now joins Aung La on the global stage of ONE Championship in pursuit of his martial arts dreams.
His opponent Pacatiw, aka the Juggernaut, is 10-5-0 and also coming off a loss when Justin Brown brought him down with a knee to the body in the first round of their ONE fight in February.
You can see it at ONEFC.com.
Also fighting on Saturday is KCFC flyweight Sharif Oripov (0-1) vs. Ramirez in the interim title flyweight bout at the RIZE Fighting Championship promotion in Fort Lauderdale. You can see it exclusively on RIZE X at 6 p.m. ET, a time we can live with.
