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Muay Thai star Rodtang Jitmuangnon prepares for a special rules bout with MMA legend Demetrious Johnson at ONE X on March 26 in Singapore. Photo: Handout

ONE Championship 157: Rodtang Jitmuangnon says he could ‘fully go to MMA’ after Muay Thai Grand Prix

  • Rodtang meets Jacob Smith in the opening round of the ONE Championship flyweight Muay Thai Grand Prix this Friday in Singapore
  • Thai star hopes to ‘challenge for the kick-boxing world title’ if tournament goes according to plan, with MMA move possible after that

Rodtang Jitmuangnon could be headed to mixed martial arts if he is victorious in ONE Championship’s imminent flyweight Muay Thai Grand Prix.

The 24-year-old Thai is ONE’s reigning flyweight Muay Thai king. His title will not be on the line in the Asian martial arts promotion’s eight-man Grand Prix, which kicks off at ONE 157 this Friday in Singapore, but he suspects he will have few viable contenders left if he wins the tournament.

That could drive him to seek out challenges in other combat sports. Kick-boxing is his first choice, but MMA is also a possibility.

“If I became the world Grand Prix champion, nobody in my division can come to challenge me for my Muay Thai title at the moment, so maybe I would like to have a kick-boxing challenge for the kick-boxing world title,” he said. “If I also gain this championship, I think I will fully go to MMA, for sure.”

Rodtang is already the No 1 contender in ONE’s flyweight kick-boxing rankings, sitting just below reigning champion Ilias Ennahachi. He has never competed in a pro MMA fight, but got a taste of the sport in late March, when he met 11-time UFC champion Demetrious Johnson in a special rules attraction at ONE X in Singapore.

The first three-minute round of the fight was contested under Muay Thai rules, during which time Rodtang bludgeoned his decorated foe with a dizzying assault of strikes. But Johnson survived into the second round, contested under MMA rules, at which point he dragged the action to the mat and submitted his Thai foe with a rear-naked choke.

Rodtang cracks Demetrious Johnson at ONEX.

“It felt great to fight with a legend like DJ,” said the Muay Thai champion, who has only been studying the grappling arts for a short time. “I’m not discouraged at all after that fight. It was a really hard challenge.

“MMA is one of the things in my focus, so let’s try after this Grand Prix. I will come back and train, and maybe one day I will have a chance to fight DJ again.”

Before Rodtang is able to return to kick-boxing or make the bold jump into MMA, he will need to get through the flyweight Muay Thai Grand Prix, starting with his first-round match-up against Briton Jacob Smith.

ONE: Harrison forecasts ‘very tough night’ for Rodtang against Smith

He recognises that a loss to Smith, who trains alongside top bantamweight contender Liam Harrison, could derail his big plans in kick-boxing and MMA.

Still, he is confident he “will be the one to get the Grand Prix title”.

“Jacob, he is technical and experienced,” Rodtang said. “In this tournament what I see as the champion is that nobody is the underdog, and everyone is kind of dangerous in their own way.

“I am not underestimating any one of them.”

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