Rodtang Jitmuangnon is one of the best Muay Thai fighters in the world. Now fans are wondering if MMA—and the UFC—could be next for him.
Rodtang, 28, has hundreds of fights in Muay Thai competition. He has spent much of his career competing for Singapore-based martial arts juggernaut ONE Championship. He is the promotion’s former flyweight champion, and has been involved in some of the biggest Muay Thai and kickboxing fights of the last few years.
At the moment, Rodtang is scheduled for a rematch with retiring Japanese legend Takeru Segawa. The fight, which will see the Thai looking for a second win against Takeru, will headline ONE Samurai 1 on April 29.
Interestingly, Rodtang is technically a free agent at this time. As he explained to Nick Atkin of the Bangkok Post, the Takeru fight will be a one-off attraction while ONE seeks to negotiate a new longer-term deal with him.
“There might be other organisations that have approached me but I don’t look into them because I just want to focus on this fight with Takeru first,” he told Atkin.
While it is very possible Rodtang will re-sign with ONE, who have made him one of the highest-paid Muay Thai fighters in history, he could also go elsewhere. A move to another kickboxing or Muay Thai promotion is possible, but fans will be far more interested in seeing Rodtang try MMA. And if he moves to MMA, many fans will be curious to see how he does in the UFC.
Could Rodtang move to MMA with the UFC?
Rodtang has yet to compete in MMA. However, he did participate in a special rules fight with UFC legend Demetrious Johnson in 2019, which he lost by submission. In addition, he has been quietly working on his grappling with elite training partners—including Johnson—in recent years. There is no real reason why he could make the jump to MMA, especially at 28. If he does, the UFC would almost certainly come knocking.
If the UFC were to sign him, they could certainly bring him along slowly, or even have him fight a few times on Contender Series, like they did for prospects from other sports like Greg Hardy.
That being said, the big issue will be money. While the UFC could afford to pay Rodtang millions, they have been pinching their pennies lately. They have been very hesitant to write big cheques for anyone—including legends like Jon Jones and Conor McGregor. If the UFC continues to short change its stars, it’s far more likely that Rodtang signs with ONE.
Of course, ONE also promotes MMA. So it’s certainly possible the Muay Thai star could try his hand at MMA there.
Welcome home, champ.
