“My biggest fight in ONE Championship” - Demetrious Johnson opens up about Rodtang

'Mighty Mouse' Demetrious Johnson is preparing for his world title rematch against ONE Championship flyweight king Adriano Moraes at ONE 161. When the two fought for the first time, Johnson lost via a second-round knockout. It was the first time in his career that he was stopped.

After his first world title attempt in ONE, Johnson did something unorthodox. The all-time great took a special rules bout against Muay Thai superstar Rodtang Jitmuangnon.

In the first round, the two combatants fought under Muay Thai rules. The second round was MMA rules, where Johnson was victorious via submission.

Fellow fighters were impressed that he took the fight against the Muay Thai great. In an interview with SCMP MMA, 'DJ' explained people's reactions. He said:

"Rodtang is probably one of the biggest stars over there in Asia. You know, Thailand, my friends that I lived, that I talk to day to day, spend my life with. They don't even do mixed martial arts. Nobody even wants that s**t, but I'll say hey, man, I'm fighting Rodtang, and they'll be like 'you're fighting him?'"

He added:

"So it was a big fight, very happy. It was probably my biggest fight, that was probably my biggest fight in ONE Championship because everybody knows him."

---

Demetrious Johnson on ONE Championship

'Mighty Mouse' Demetrious Johnson spoke to SCMP MMA about his Rodtang fight. He stated that this is one of the biggest reasons he wanted to join ONE Championship.

"That was fun. I mean, like I said, being in the UFC for so long and you know, having the longest reigning title defense, my biggest thing was when I went to ONE Championship, I knew I had the opportunity to do different things, right. But I wouldn't have seen, in UFC that would never have been able to be possible."

Before Johnson joined ONE, he competed in the UFC and set the record for most consecutive world title defenses in UFC history. He dominated the competition in the organization and was able to carve his name among the all-time greats in MMA with his win streak.

In ONE Championship, Demetrious Johnson earned a record of four wins and one loss, with the singular loss being against Moraes. The US-born fighter will look to avenge this loss at ONE 161 on August 26 on US primetime. ONE 161 will be broadcast on streaming giant Amazon Prime Video.

Also on ONE 161 will be Johnson's former opponent Rodtang Jitmuangnon. The Muay Thai world champion is looking to progress to the final of the ONE Flyweight Muay Thai World Grand Prix. However, first, he has to defeat the Cyrpus-born striking savant Savvas Michael.