MMA vs. Muay Thai: Demetrious Johnson Discusses Unique Fight Against Thai Legend
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After spending well over a decade competing for world titles and battling through grueling grand prix tournaments in the UFC and ONE Championship, Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson has earned the opportunity to have a little fun.
That’s just what he’ll get in his next fight.
The ONE flyweight grand prix winner and 12-time UFC champ will return to action at ONE X on Saturday evening in Singapore (Saturday morning stateside) when he will take on the promotion’s reigning flyweight muay thai champion Rodtang Jitmuangnon in a headline-catching hybrid fight that will alternate between muay thai and MMA rules over the course of four three-minute rounds.
“It’s about having fun and going out there to compete,” Johnson told Bleacher Report inside the Singapore Indoor Stadium, where Saturday’s 20-fight ONE X bonanza will go down. “The challenges are always fun. I just think with this one, fighting against a guy like Rodtang, it’s going to be difficult, but at the same time it’s going to be fun.”
Some may question Johnson’s definition of fun.
At just 24, Thailand’s Rodtang has competed in well over 300 fights and won at least 267 of them, though muay thai records tend to be difficult to verify. He’s known as one of the best fighters in the sport, as evidenced by the ONE title belt that sits in his trophy case. Perhaps more importantly, he’s one of the most exciting fighters in combat sports. He is brutality incarnate. A walking, talking chainsaw.
Johnson’s ability to win the fight seemingly hinges on surviving the first round, which will be contested under muay thai rules. He recognizes the scale of that challenge but is hopeful his experience fighting strikers in MMA will carry him through.
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“I’ve fought strikers before,” he said.
“I’ve been in fights where it’s pretty much only stand-up. When I fought Henry Cejudo the second time, it was pretty much all stand-up. Granted, Cejudo doesn’t have the caliber of standup or muay thai as Rodtang, but the fight was pretty much on the feet.”
“When I fought John Dodson, I got dropped three times in the first round and I fought back and won that fight,” he said. “I’m sure Rodtang’s going to hit just as hard—maybe a little harder.”
If Johnson can survive the first round, the tables will turn abruptly in his favor, as he will then have three minutes to ply his wrestling and jiu-jitsu against Rodtang—who has only been studying the grappling side of the sport for a few years—before the fight reverts back to muay thai rules in Round 3.
Like Johnson, Rodtang is well aware of the danger he’ll face when the fight switches to his less favored ruleset. Still, he said there was no hesitation to accept the fight when ONE sent him the offer.
“I’ve never been in MMA before, so when [ONE CEO Chatri Sityodtong] explained the rules, I said yes right away,” the Thai juggernaut said.
“I’m a fighter. When you have an opportunity, you cannot say no. When you say no, you’ll continue to say no. You’ll never step up to challenge yourself. I want to challenge myself. I want to step up. I want to prove I can do it.”
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Special-rules fights are a rare occurrence in combat sports, but there is precedent. Many of the best examples of this kind of attraction have occurred on the Asian scene.
Perhaps the best example of the bunch occurred at the legendary Dynamite!! 2010 event inside the Saitama Super Arena outside Tokyo, when Japanese grappling specialist Shinya Aoki—who coincidentally fights Yoshihiro Akiyama on the ONE X card—met K-1 kickboxer Yuichiro Nagashima in a bout that alternated between kickboxing and MMA rules.
Like Johnson’s, Aoki’s chances of victory seemed to hinge on his surviving until the second round, when he would be allowed to get to work with his wrestling and jiu-jitsu. Yet as anybody who watched this iconic event knows, that’s not quite how things went down. Aoki used an ugly, boo-inducing combination of clinching and intentionally falling to the ground to survive Round 1 only to be knocked out by a flying knee on his first takedown attempt in Round 2.
Johnson is keen to avoid that kind of humiliation against Rodtang but does take some pride in continuing Asia’s tradition of special-rules fights.
“I guess you could say I’m carrying on a tradition,” he said when asked about Aoki’s infamous loss to Nagashima. “I think ONE Championship is carrying on a tradition. For me, I’m always looking for mixed martial arts because that’s my bread and butter. I like the full evolution of a fight. But hats off to ONE Championship for keeping the tradition alive.”
While Johnson is excited for the opportunity to have a bit of fun against Rodtang—and keep a time-honored tradition alive in the process—he is not taking the challenge lightly whatsoever. Particularly in the final stages of his illustrious career.
“It’s going to be f–king chaotic,” he said. “I take every fight seriously because it could be my last.”
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