ONE Championship to bring Rodtang-Johnson mega-fight

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

Are you ready for some fireworks?

Fight fans, one of your dream matches will finally materialize as ONE Championship revealed that former UFC flyweight champion Demetrius “Mighty Mouse” Johnson and One’s flyweight Muay Thai champion Rodtang “The Iron Man” Jitmuangnon will trade blows in the main event of One X this coming December.

ONE Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong confirmed their biggest treat this 2021 in celebration of their 10-year anniversary.

Sityodtong also shared that both fighters will be wearing 4 oz gloves come fight night with a unique set of rules per round.

In the first and third rounds of the fight, both fighters will be following Muay Thai rules while in the second and fourth, the traditional MMA rule book will now take over.

“So it’s going to be Pride FC style, back in the old days. We want to do something special like that. We want to do something fun that would commemorate martial arts in a way that celebrates all of mixed martial arts and history, not just our ten-year history,” said Sityodtong.

Aside from the Rodtang-Johnson showdown, ONE also put December as the fight month for title fights.

ONE Bantamweight champion Bibiano “The Flash” Fernandes will be facing no.1 contender John “Hands of Stone” Lineker while ONE Featherweight defending champ Thanh Le will be squaring off against Gary “The Lion Killer” Tonon.