Tial Thang (© ONE Championship)

Born in Chin State, Myanmar, “The Dragon Leg” Tial Thang, 25, is one of the three hometown heroes competing at “ONE: Reign of Valor.” It marks his debut both as a ONE Championship athlete and as professional mixed martial artist.

“I absolutely cannot wait to make that walk to the cage in Yangon,” Thang stated. “This is a dream come true for me, to be able to make my ONE debut in front of my home country. I am seriously pumped for this.”

Featuring nine mixed martial arts matches and five kickboxing matches, “ONE: Reign of Valor” is the first ONE Championship event in 2019 to take place in Myanmar. In the eighth bout of the evening, Thang will face Rin Saroth, 25, of Cambodia in an MMA bout at a catch weight of 68 kg.

“It means a lot to me as a mixed martial artist to be able to showcase my skills and put my hard work on display in front of the great fans of Myanmar,” Thang said. “I hope that they enjoy what I show them come March 8. I promise it’s going to be a treat.”

The Chin State native does not need to rely on beginner’s luck in his ONE Championship. Days before the “ONE: Reign of Valor” fight night, he has been training hard with reigning ONE Middleweight and Light Heavyweight World Champion “The Burmese Python” Aung La N Sang, 33, of Myanmar.

“ONE: Reign of Valor” will take place at the Thuwunna Indoor Stadium in Yangon, Myanmar on March 8, 2019. The official open workout took place at the Transcend Fitness Yangon in Yangon, Myanmar on March 5, 2019.

The other two Burmese fighters competing at “ONE: Reign of Valor” are Phoe “Bushido” Thaw, 34, and Bozhena “Toto” Antoniyar, 23. Antoniyar is slated to face Audreylaura “Ice Comet” Boniface, 29, of Malaysia in the third bout of the evening while Thaw is set to face “The Iceman” Yohan Mulia Legowo, 38, of Indonesia in the co-main event.

In the main event of the evening, Georgiy “Knight” Kichigin, 28, of Kazakhstan will challenge reigning ONE Welterweight World Champion Zebaztian “The Bandit” Kadestam, 28, of Sweden. Like Thang, the Kazakh challenger is a ONE Championship debutante.

Thang, Thaw, Antoniyar, Kadestam and Kichigin displayed their skills at the recent open workout at the Transcend Fitness Yangon. Watch it here: