Rodtang Jitmuangnon is $100,000 USD richer after his win at ONE Fight Night 10 last weekend. But the Thai fighter does not appear to be planning a holiday to celebrate.
He already has his sights set on two potential opponents but there is one fight which Rodtang definitely does not want. He had been scheduled to challenge Superlek Kiatmoo9 for the flyweight kickboxing belt.
Rodtang pulled out of that fight and has made it clear he does not want to face Superlek,
I just think from a Thailand perspective that Superlek’s a Muay Thai fighter holding the kickboxing belt, and I hold the Muay Thai belt. That’s better for Thailand.
Rodtang 🇹🇭 decimates Edgar Tabares with a NASTY elbow to defend his ONE Flyweight Muay Thai World Title! 👑
Tune in to Prime Video NOW to catch the rest of ONE Fight Night 10!
LIVE NOW | #ONEFightNight10
🇺🇸🇨🇦 Watch LIVE on Prime 👉 https://t.co/1NTfXfMip4
🧑💻 Join the… pic.twitter.com/O1aYuItBQU— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) May 6, 2023
Moving up
But while Rodtang doesn’t appear particularly interested in challenging for the flyweight kickboxing belt that doesn’t mean he won’t switch codes. In fact there is another title he has his eye on,.
Speaking immediately after his stoppage win over Edgar Tabares in Broomfield he stated that,
I want to change weight class and face Haggerty.
Of course Rodtang already has two wins over Haggerty. But they both took place in the flyweight division so the Thai would be forced to move up a division.
That is something that Haggerty has already done very successfully. He became the first opponent to ever beat Nong-O Gaiyanghadao in a ONE Championship fight, winning the bantamweight Muay Thai belt in the process.
Both fights between Rodtang and Jonathan Haggerty were insane 🤯 #WeAreONE #ONEChampionship pic.twitter.com/GZZPfVfGF4
— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) January 21, 2022
Money fight
But ONE Championship will be well aware that the money fight is to match Rodtang with Takeru in Tokyo. That is already in the works according to Chatri Sityodtong.
Takeru has a kickboxing bout with Bailey Sugden coming up in Paris. Assuming he gets emerges from that unscathed ONE Championship will surely try to match him with Rodtang in Tokyo.
It seems some announcements about that event might be imminent:
On the backburner
That means a match between Haggerty and Rodtang is likely to go on the backburner, while the bout with Superlek looks to be dead in the water. But the big question is where Takeru can compete in ONE Championship’s flyweight division.
If he wants to become the flyweight kickboxing champion then Takeru would need to beat Superlek. But it is not clear whether the Japanese fighter is light enough to compete in this division.
A catchweight could surely be agreed upon in order to make the fight between Rodtang and Takeru happen. It seems that Sage Northcutt could also be matched with Shinya Aoki in Tokyo and fans will be looking forward to more updates on that event.
