By:  | September 23, 2023 12:10 am

There was plenty of hype heading into Rodtang Jitmuangnon’s fight with Superlek Kiatmoo9 at ONE Friday Fights 34 and the two men more than lived up to it. They went to war at Lumpinee Stadium in a bout that was reduced to three rounds when the latter missed weight.

By the end of the opening round Superlek’s blonde hair was stained red as blood poured from his forehead. Rodtang’s left elbow had done the damage and he was in the ascendancy despite having eaten some hard low kicks.

Superlek continued to land kicks to his opponent’s lead leg in the second round. Then came the moment that effectively settled the outcome of the fight as a right elbow caused Rodtang to collapse in the corner.

No draws

He was never down but the ropes seemed to be keeping Rodtang up. The referee certainly took that view and he gave a count which, in a three round fight, is very difficult to come back from.

At the start of the third Rodtang unbalanced Superlek and then landed some more elbows from close quarters. He landed another left hook before throwing his opponent down a second time.

Superlek was continually scoring with those low kicks but looked a little intimidated and would have been happy to hear the bell. With ONE Championship now allowing draws the judges had to pick a winner.

The fight would presumably have been dead even on the scorecards with Rodtang seeming to get the better of the first and third rounds but getting knocked down in the second.

In the end all three scored the bout in Superlek’s favour. After such an entertaining fight a rematch looks an absolutely certainty, the only question is whether the winner can continue campaigning at flyweight after missing weight by 4lbs.

Best of the rest

In the first MMA fight on the card Lito Adiwang returned after a lengthy injury layoff. The Filipino strawweight underwent surgery after tearing his MCL at ONE: ‘X’ last year.

Adiwang (14-5) looked absolutely sensational and showed no signs whatsoever of ring rust. He finished Adrian Mattheis (11-7) with ground and pound after just 23 seconds.

The other MMA fight on the card was much closer. The always entertaining Shinechagtga Zoltsetseg (7-4) edged out Chen Rui (16-7) with a split decision win in their bantamweight bout.

ONE Friday Fights 34, Bangkok, September 22nd
Superlek Kiatmoo9 def. Rodtang Jitmuangnon via Decision (Unanimous)
Saeksan Or. Kwanmuang def. Amir Naseri via Decision (Unanimous)
Muangthai PKSaenchaigym def. Yodlekpet Or Atchariya via Decision (Unanimous)
Kulabdam Sor Jor Piek-U-Thai def. Tyson Harrison via TKO (Referee stoppage) at 3:00 of R1
Kickboxing: Prajanchai PKSaenchaigym def. Akram Hamidi via Decision (Unanimous)
Miguel Trindade def. Sibmuen Sitchefboontham via KO (Knees and punches) at 2:14 of R1
Suakim Sor Jor Tongprajin def. Saman Ashouri via KO (Right elbow & left straight) at 2:15 of R1
Songchainoi Kiatsongrit def. Jomhod AutoMuayThai via TKO (Three knockdowns / punches) at 0:54 of R2
Wei Ziqin def. Phetchartchai FightGeekMuayThai via Decision (Unanimous)
MMA: Shinechagtga Zoltsetseg def. Chen Rui via Decision (Split)
MMA: Lito Adiwang def. Adrian Mattheis via TKO (Punches) at 0:23 of R1