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As ONE Championship looks to kickstart its 2023, one of the promotion’s biggest stars, Rodtang Jitmuangnon, will step back inside the circle.
At ONE Fight Night 6 on Prime Video, ‘The Iron Man’ will make his first appearance of the year against China’s Jidou Yibu. After producing a great fight on his ONE Championship debut against Daniel Puertas, Yibu will face one of the world's most dangerous strikers under the kickboxing ruleset.
Potentially looking to become a multi-sport world champion in 2023, Rodtang Jitmuangnon has continued to look for new challenges outside of Muay Thai, where he has dominated in ONE Championship.
In 2022, Rodtang faced Demetrious Johnson in the promotion’s first ever mixed-rules superfight. Whilst he came up short on that occasion, it shows his ambition to become much more than one of the greatest Muay Thai fighters the sport has ever seen.
In a title defence,he reminded everyone of his credentials as the flyweight Muay Thai world champion with his last fight in 2022, defeating strawweight champ Joseph Lasiri. Completely bullying his opponent from start to finish, ‘The Iron Man’ has clearly not lost a step despite trying his hand in various rulesets.
ONE Fight Night 6 on Prime Video is live from Bangkok on January 13 at US primetime and is available for North American audiences with a Prime subscription.
WATCH: ESPN SportsCenter showcases Rodtang Jitmuangnon’s iron chin, fans react
Through his success and fighting style, Rodtang Jitmuangnon has been able to transcend the sport of Muay Thai.
Becoming one of the biggest names in combat sports, ‘The Iron Man’ has started to get more mainstream attention. Whilst the ONE flyweight Muay Thai world champion is a huge name when it comes to diehard combat sports fans, the general public is only starting to find out about him.
With his cocky fighting style that makes for most watch entertainment, it isn’t difficult to win people over by showing them his highlights. On ESPN SportsCenter, some of the champ's most iconic moments of showmanship were broadcasted out by the leader in the sports, showcasing him to their 32.5 million Instagram followers.
The comment section was filled with praise, including some saying:
“Homie ate 3 fists and danced about it”
"Rodtang is him‼️ if you don’t know now you know 🤷🏻♂️”
"ion think y’all get how demoralizing dat is to the fighter throwing shots, it’s a solid strategy”
"If I ever fight somebody like that on bro imma just give up cuz what's the point”
"The man has over 260 fights under his belt. People talking like it’s his first rodeo. Mans face built with a helmet on. 😂”
After growing up poor in Thailand, he started training in Muay Thai at a young age with the hopes of helping to support his family. Now, at the age of 25, he is the biggest name in the sport and a superstar in ONE Championship.
Watch the Rodtang Jitmuangnon highlight reel posted by SportsCenter below:
