Rodtang “The Iron Man” Jitmuangnon, 22, of Bangkok, Thailand is the new champion in the flyweight division in Muay Thai of ONE Championship’s striking-only league ONE Super Series. He dethroned former champion Jonathan “The General” Haggerty, 22, of London, England, United Kingdom in the co-main event of “ONE: Dawn of Heroes.”
Featuring 13 mixed martial arts matches and two Muay Thai matches, “ONE: Dawn of Heroes” took place at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City, Metro Manila, Philippines. In the co-maim event of the evening, Jitmuangnon challenged Haggerty for the ONE Flyweight Muay Thai World Championship title with Atsushi Onari as the referee.
Haggerty utilized his length in the early going, using front kicks to keep the challenger at bay. Rodtang picked up steam in the succeeding rounds and managed to drop the defending champion twice.
After five three-minute rounds, the title bout was left in the hands of the judges. In the end, Onari raised the hand of Rodtang, who earned the ONE Flyweight Muay Thai World Championship title via unanimous decision.
Winning at “ONE: Dawn of Heroes” improved the professional Muay Thai record of Rodtang to 257 wins, 41 losses and 10 draws. On the other hand, Haggerty now has 15 wins and 2 losses.
Including the U.K. and Thailand, 14 countries were represented at “ONE: Dawn of Heroes.” The other countries were Australia, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea, the Philippines, the United States and Vietnam.
Haggerty was one of the two fighters who represented the U.K. Rodtang was one of the three representatives of Thailand.
“ONE: Dawn of Heroes” marked the Rodtang’s fifth ONE Super Series bout. He defeated his first four opponents in the striking-only league of ONE Championship namely Sergio “Samurai” Wielzen, 31, of Suriname, Fahdi “The Gladiator” Khaled, 24, of Tunisia, Hakim Hamech, 26, of France and Sok Thy, 21, of Cambodia.
More photos of the bout between Rodtang and Haggerty are on Top Sports Asia. Here is a clip from the “ONE: Dawn of Heroes” press conference:
Categories: ONE Super Series, sanda, wushu, arnis, SPORTS