Atomweight kickboxing queen Janet Todd shares the parallels between fighting and engineering: “It’s very analytical” 

ONE atomweight kickboxing queen Janet Todd is an analytical person almost to a fault, but it’s what will help her defend her world title this Friday at ONE Fight Night 20.

The American superstar is en route to unifying her ONE atomweight kickboxing world title against interim champ Phetjeeja Lukjaoporongtom on March 8, at the Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.

With another high-stakes battle heading in her direction, ‘JT’ has made every effort to devise a plan to beat her Thai opponent. Starting from breaking down Phetjeeja’s fighting style, to how she defends herself, to analyzing her best weapons - Janet Todd has dissected it all.

Transferring her expert understanding of aerospace engineering into martial arts, Todd is at an advantage. However, problem-solving only gets you halfway. As Todd relents, the other half of the puzzle to figuring Phetjeeja out, will be to rely on her instincts come Friday night.

“Engineering is very analytical,” she told Fightwave. “And there are some analytical aspects in martial arts as you prepare for fights, as you set goals and analyze your opponent. Kinda figure out how to tune your game up. But mostly when you’re actually in the ring, it’s instinctual, it’s not as analytical.”

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Janet Todd aims to inspire more women to compete in martial arts

There’s no doubt ‘JT’ Janet Todd will be honored in the women’s Muay Thai Hall of Fame in the future. The 38-year-old veteran is one of the best female strikers in the world and that merits recognition.

Since joining ONE Championship in 2019, Todd has won two major championship titles across two different disciplines.

She earned her ONE atomweight kickboxing world title in February 2020, via split decision against her old rival Stamp Fairtex. Then, she worked her way up the Muay Thai ladder to capture the ONE interim atomweight Muay Thai gold against ISKA World Champion Lara Fernandez in July 2022.

She held double champ status for the next eight months before losing to Brazilian mom-champ Allycia Hellen Rodrigues, in an attempt to unify the Muay Thai belt.

Entering the final battle of her career this Friday, ‘JT’ hopes she’s done enough to clear the path for women who want to compete in martial arts.

“I hope people can see what I do and say, ‘Yeah, I can do that.’ Or even say, ‘Yeah, I could do that better. I could be the next champion and help the sport grow.’

ONE Fight Night 20 will air live on US Primetime on March 8, free of charge for existing Prime Video subscribers in North America.