ONE Championship Chief Makes Massive Declaration About Rodtang's Future Status

ONE Championship has gone all in on becoming the foremost combat sports hub in the world thanks to its focus on growing the Muay Thai scene in Southeast Asia, and company head honcho Chatri Sityodtong has high hopes that Rodtang Jitmuangnon will be the face of the movement.

In a now-publicly unavailable Facebook Live question-and-answer session done with fans, Chatri made a bold declaration about Rodtang's status in the world of combat sports.

"In two or three years, Rodtang (Jitmuangnon) will be as big as Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi," Chatri pointed out.

Rodtang certainly has been building up his resume to be in leagues with such sporting greats as the pair of soccer stars after becoming one of the most recognizable names in the world of Muay Thai within ONE Championship's formidable roster of stars.

Since joining the Singapore-based combat sports promotion in September 2018, Rodtang has amassed an impressive record of 14-straight victories across his Muay Thai and kickboxing outings and has taken home wins against some big names.

"The Iron Man" produced a unanimous decision and TKO victory against United Kingdom star Jonathan Haggerty in August 2019 and January 2020 respectively while also logging unanimous decision wins versus heavy-hitters like Danial Williams, Joseph Lasiri and fellow Thai Petchdam Petchyindee.

While the reigning ONE flyweight Muay Thai king carries bombs for hands, his grind-it-out, break-you-down style of fighting has been able to keep things exciting regardless of the opponent.

His growing star power even enticed ONE Championship to book him against all-time mixed martial arts (MMA) great Demetrious Johnson in March 2022 at ONE X, where they fought under hybrid Muay Thai-MMA rules.

Rodtang understandably commandeered the Muay Thai round instituted for round one and came out like a man possessed by backing up "Mighty Mouse" into the cage, landing a massive left hook that had Johnson clinching.

But when the match moved towards MMA rules for the second round, Johnson was able to take the Thai star's back and locked in a rear-naked choke to send Rodtang to sleep.

Rodtang deciding not to tap out despite having a rear-naked choke being cinched in tightly was a massive testament to how highly he thinks of himself–drawing similarities to the pride that both Ronaldo and Messi carry themselves with on the soccer field.

While there are still a long ways to go before he reaches their level, Rodtang certainly has the tools necessary to become one of the greats in combat sports.