Reigning ONE featherweight Muay Thai world champion Tawanchai kept both his title and his unbeaten streak intact at ONE…
Reigning ONE featherweight Muay Thai world champion Tawanchai kept both his title and his unbeaten streak intact at ONE 167 on Friday night.
Emanating from the sold-out Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand, ONE 167 delivered a memorable night of action capped off by a Fight of the Year contender between Tawanchai and one of ONE Championship’s most versatile strikers, ‘Smokin’ Jo Nattawut.
Through the first two rounds, both fighters remained cautious, trading kicks and keeping their distance. However, that all changed in the third with Nattawut picked up the pace and began landing his far-too-hesitant opponent. Heeding the advice of his corner, the Thai titleholder began to let his hands go in the chances round, pressuring Nattawut and slowly turning the tide.
Following a very competitive fifth round, we went to the judge’s scorecards where two of the three saw the fight in favor of the champ while the third ruled it a draw.
Official Result: Tawanchai def. Jo Nattawut via majority decision.
Check out highlights From Tawanchai vs. Jo Nattawut at ONE 167:
After delivering one of the greatest Muay Thai fights of all time in September, Rodtang Jitmuangnon made his long-awaited…
After delivering one of the greatest Muay Thai fights of all time in September, Rodtang Jitmuangnon made his long-awaited return to the Circle at ONE 167 for a high-stakes kickboxing clash with ‘The Bosnian Menace’ Denis Puric.
Both fighters came out throwing heavy leather from the get-go. ‘The Iron Man’ was very elusive, a change of pace for the Thai superstar who typically loves to march forward and throw caution to the wind. Mixing up his strikes beautifully, Rodtang punished Puric up top, blasting him with combination after combination before brilliantly ripping to the body of his opponent.
In round two, Rodtang abandoned the elusiveness, opting to push forward with his iron-like chin up in the air. That gave Puric a greater opportunity to land throughout the round, but it was ‘The Iron Man’ who had the advantage in both speed and volume.
Puric undoubtedly had his best round in the third, but in the end, it wasn’t enough to undo the damage he had taken in the first two rounds.
Official Result: Rodtang def. Denis Puric via unanimous decision.
With the victory, ‘The Iron Man’ takes home his 272nd career win and his 15th under the ONE Championship banner. He is now 12-1 in Muay Thai action and 3-0 in kickboxing.
check out Highlights From Rodtang vs. Denis Puric at ONE 167:
ONE Championship atomweight champion Stamp Fairtex has been forced out of her upcoming fight in June due to a…
ONE Championship atomweight champion Stamp Fairtex has been forced out of her upcoming fight in June due to a knee injury.
Stamp Fairtex was set to face Denice Zamboanga on June 7, and she was also scheduled to fight strawweight champion Xiong Jingnan on Sept. 6 in Denver, Colorado in a potential champ vs. champ fight. But, due to the injury, those fights are now off which is disappointing news for Chatri Sityodtong.
“It’s a sad thing. One of her final sparring sessions prepping for the big event in a couple of weeks, she blew out her knee. 80 percent of her meniscus was torn off her knee, and it was on a nasty takedown where her leg got caught. Her knee buckled. She just went for surgery, very successful surgery [on Sunday].”
Sityodtong says there is no timeframe for Stamp Fairtex to return, but the hope is to return in six months, but ONE’s CEO isn’t going to rush Stamp.
“I’ve talked to the Fairtex team, looks like it’s going to be six months but I really don’t know,” Sityodtong said. “I haven’t talked to the doctor. Let’s see what happens. It’s kind of sad but at the same time Atlanta is six months away so who knows. Stamp is a super athlete. You never know.”
Chatri
Stamp Fairtex was coming off a TKO win over Ham Seo-hee in September to win the vacant atomweight champion. Fairtex is 11-2 in MMA and holds notable wins over Alyona Rassohyna, Ritu Phogat, and Alsye Anderson among others.
Chatri Sityodtong says Denver card will be ‘stacked’
Despite losing Stamp Fairtex, Sityodtong says the Denver card will still be stacked as he’s confident it will be a stellar card for MMA fans, that will be a sellout.
“These things happen,” Sityodtong said. “The most important thing right now is for Stamp to rest and recover and rehab her knee so she’s back and hopefully she’s back in several months even potentially for our Atlanta show and there’s more shows in the states for next year. So I’m pretty relaxed about that from a timing perspective and plus we have such a stacked card.
“We haven’t even announced our card, but we have such a stacked card for Denver, 100 percent the event is going to sell out. With zero marketing, we’re more than half sold out, which is mind bogging to me. It’s a 20,000-seat arena where the world champion Denver Nuggets play. It’s a full blown NBA stadium. We’ve done zero marketing, All we’ve done is announce that we’re coming and put a ticket link up and a couple of fights and it’s more than half sold out already. So I think four months to go, we’ll probably sell out with several weeks to go just like we did for our last Denver event. We’re very excited.”
Off the back of his close unanimous decision win over challenger, Steve Erceg over the course of the weekend…
Off the back of his close unanimous decision win over challenger, Steve Erceg over the course of the weekend at UFC 301, undisputed flyweight champion, Alexandre Pantoja has admitted he hopes to land a fight with former divisional star, Demetrious Johnson in the future.
Pantoja, the current undisputed flyweight titleholder, headlined in his first outing in his native Brazil since joining in the promotion over the course of the weekend, landing a close, albeit debated decision victory against Perth native, Erceg – successfully defending his flyweight crown for the second time since his reign began last summer.
Mandatory Credit: Alexandre Loureiro/Zuffa LLC
As for Johnson, the former undisputed UFC flyweight champion and current ONE Championship gold holder, has still yet to return to mixed martial arts competition since he defeated Pantoja’s compatriot, Adriano Moraes in a trilogy rubber match back in May of last year.
However, off the back of Johnson’s comments, Pantoja has noted his desire to actually share the Octagon with the veteran star in the future – describing a future pairing as a “dream” matchup for him.
“I think that’s the dream for me,” Alexandre Pantoja told MMA Fighting of a fight with Demetrious Johnson. “I don’t like to say I have dreams because I want to live everything I have in my life. I think [to] live is better than [to] dream.”
“But if I dream about something, it’s to fight with Demetrious Johnson,” Alexandre Pantoja explained. “I have all respect for him. If he don’t wan’t to fight, maybe I go to the gym and train with him, make hard sparring.”
Who wins in a potential clash: Alexandre Pantoja or Demetrious Johnson?
It’s safe to say that there is no love lost between RIZIN President Nobuyuki Sakakibara and ONE Championship CEO…
It’s safe to say that there is no love lost between RIZIN President Nobuyuki Sakakibara and ONE Championship CEO Chatri Sityodtong.
During a recent episode of RIZIN CONFESSIONS on YouTube, Sakakibara, who has ties to both PRIDE FC and K-1, recently spoke about the promotion’s move into South Korea. During his comments, Sakakibara insisted that Asian-based combat sports organizations should “bring the heat to Asia” before attempting to branch out into other markets.
It was a clear dig at one of RIZIN’s biggest rivals in Asia, ONE Championship, but Sakakibara didn’t stop there. He went for the jugular, calling out ONE’s sketchy “fund-based scheme” for survival, likening it to being on life support.
“There are many casinos getting built in Incheon and they just finished building an arena that holds 15,000,” Sakakibara said. “Bring the heat to Asia first. ONE struggled in Qatar. As far as we know, they’ve been burning a lot of cash and have running for the past 10 years. They’ve burnt hundreds of millions of dollars. We have a different approach. We’re not operating off a fund-based scheme. It’s like being on life support and once the pipe is detached, you can’t live on your own.
“From this point on, RIZIN will continue to promote events that will provide the emotional rollercoasters. Delivering events like that will eventually result in a sustainable business.”
At one point during the conversation, the interviewer asks Sakakibara about ONE Championship’s mission statement to promote the “values of integrity, humility, honor, respect, courage, discipline, and compassion,” suggesting that it sounds like something out of a “kid’s comic book.”
Sakakibara chuckles before saying: “Nobody got the message they wanted to say.”
Jump to the 13-minute mark of the below embed to see Sakakibara’s comments about ONE Championship.
RIZIN president President Nobuyuki and ONE CEO Chatri Sityodtong have a long history of trading verbal jabs
It’s certainly not the first time that Sakakibara and Sityodtong have taken digs at one another in the media. During a press event last year, Sityodtong made his feelings on K-1 very clear.
“Honestly like… It’s a tiny organization, and the level is very low. I mean, the level of striking is very low.” Sityodtong said. “That’s all I’m going to say. That’s why Takeru [Segawa], the best striker in K-1 wants to leave and come to here. If you’re an expert striker, you understand what I’m talking about. The level is very low.”
Sityodtong’s comments about K-1 and kickboxing in general drew a response from Sakakibara during an interview with MMA Mania’s Drake Riggs.
“I honestly think them as promoters talking about a sport like that,” Sakakibara I don’t appreciate them talking like that. I think that’s an issue on their personal level because kickboxing is an amazing sport. It’s a fun sport. And, as a promoter, if you cannot promote that sport, you shouldn’t be doing it. I think there are a lot of great ways to promote a kickboxing fight. Kickboxing is interesting, it’s an entertaining sport.
“If you feel like it’s not happening, it’s a promoter’s fault that’s not doing their job. They’re not picking up the right points, they’re not promoting it right. So, I think, as a promoter, they shouldn’t be saying that to specific sports. If they’ve tried, and if they can’t do it, it’s up to them, and it’s their fault. We know how to promote interesting fights, and we make it interesting.”
Whether or not the event was a financial success is uncertain.
ONE is scheduled to return to the United States for a loaded lineup in The Mile High City — Denver, Colorado, on Friday, September 6. The promotion has already announced four massive matchups, including three champion vs. champion matches.
Reigning atomweight MMA queen Stamp Fairtex will challenge the defending ONE strawweight MMA world champion Xiong Jing Nan. Two-sport king Jonathan Haggerty puts his bantamweight Muay Thai title on the line against Thai superstar Superlek, and BJJ icon Mikey Musumeci moves up three weight classes to challenge Kade Ruotolo for the ONE lightweight submission grappling world championship.
British fan favorite Liam Harrison will also return to take on 201-win veteran Seksan Or Kwanmuang.
Reacting to former undisputed UFC flyweight champion, Demetrious Johnson’s stunning submission grappling exploits in the world of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu,…
Reacting to former undisputed UFC flyweight champion, Demetrious Johnson’s stunning submission grappling exploits in the world of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, stalwart commentator, Joe Rogan has branded the Kentucky native likely the best ever mixed martial arts fighter to ever compete.
Setting his record in stunning circumstances, Johnson threw former title challenger and fellow promotional alum, Ray Borg into a fierce armbar following a suplex attempt at UFC 216 back in 2017 – forcing a final round tap.
And since landing the ONE Championship flyweight World Grand Prix and the promotion’s flyweight championship, Johnson has since turned his hand to submission grappling in recent months, recently taking home a rake of gold and silver medals at the IBJJF Pan championships.
“How crazy is that?” Joe Rogan said on an episode of The Joe Rogan Experience. “‘Mighty Mouse’ (Demetrious Johnson) took on a guy who is 250 pounds in a Jiu-Jitsu tournament, and he tapped him. The dude was heavier than him by 100 pounds. The dude was enormous, the guy was so much bigger than him. Look at the size difference, look at how big that dude it – but ‘Mighty Mouse’ is so slick. There it is. And then manages to stay on top, which is really crazy. It’s crazy that he couldn’t get him off him. That’s technique.”
“He’s probably the best ever,” Rogan said of Demetrious Johnson. “In terms of just pure martial arts technique, I think the best expression of martial arts technique is ‘Mighty Mouse’.”
Do you rank Demetrious Johnson as the best fighter ever?
on Prime
on Prime 
on 
Tawanchai retains the ONE Featherweight Muay Thai World Championship by majority decision over “Smokin” Jo Nattawut!
After delivering one of the greatest Muay Thai fights of all time in September, Rodtang Jitmuangnon made his long-awaited…
LIVE NOW
Sky Sports
Channel 7
U-NEXT
Combate
RMC
Rodtang…. Mauvaise idée 
(@Parlons_PP) 
ONE Championship atomweight champion Stamp Fairtex has been forced out of her upcoming fight in June due to a…
Off the back of his close unanimous decision win over challenger, Steve Erceg over the course of the weekend…
It’s safe to say that there is no love lost between RIZIN President Nobuyuki Sakakibara and ONE Championship CEO…
Reacting to former undisputed UFC flyweight champion, Demetrious Johnson’s stunning submission grappling exploits in the world of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu,…
