[autotag]Tial Thang[/autotag] is riding high after picking up a win in his pro debut.
At “One Championship: Reign of Valor” in March, Tang defeated Rin Saroth by unanimous decision. Beyond being his first pro win, the win meant a lot to Thang. Why? Because of its location.
“My debut was awesome because it was my first time going back to my country of Burma in 14 years,” Thang said in a recent interview with One Championship. “It was also my professional debut. It’s even sweeter because I got the victory. Then I (got) to see my grandmother and that was a very big thing. The fight and everything else was just great. I love everything about the last fight.”
While Thiang indicated he is happy overall with his last performance, he implied there’s still room for improvement. Thiang hopes to be able to implement a more finish-centric gameplan going forward. In turn, he’ll make coach Henri Hooft much happier.
Friday at One Championship 105, Thang will have the opportunity to implement his new strategy. Thang returns to the cage to take on Woon Gyeom Kim on the preliminary card.
“My last fight with Rin Saroth, I was a little bit too hyped,” Thang said. “I was a little bit too excited and I didn’t follow the gameplan. This time, I’m going to follow better and listen to my coaches better. I was just looking for that knockout and I didn’t listen to none of my coaches until the third round. So they were very mad at me for that.”
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Despite Kim currently holding a 1-2 record, Thang believes his opponent is game. In the limited tape he’s seen, Thang has been impressed.
“I only found a little bit of clips – three minutes of his win at ONE World Series,” Thang said. “So he must be really good to win that ONE World Series. But I’m in a better team, I feel like. I feel like I train harder and I sacrifice more. So like I said, every time I fight. Not only in wrestling. I want to pin people. I want to finish people. Sometimes I ignore my coaches looking for that knockout. I’m going to look for a finish. Start from the end. Hopefully, we get one this time.”
To hear more from Thang, check out the video above, courtesy of ONE Championship.