Demetrious Johnson hoping "striking GOAT" Superlek takes on winner of ONE 170 clash between Rodtang, Takeru

MMA royalty Demetrious Johnson may have hung up his gloves for good at ONE 168: Denver on Sept. 6 inside the Ball Arena, but that does not mean he is no longer keeping tabs on his peers in ONE Championship.

During his sit-down interview with ONE Vice President Rich Franklin on his Mighty Cast podcast, 'Mighty Mouse' gave his thoughts on who ONE flyweight kickboxing and bantamweight Muay Thai world champion Superlek Kiatmoo9 should face next.

The former ONE flyweight MMA world champion said:

"We have Superbon, we have Tawanchai. We have those guys, but I feel like, you know, pound-for-pound it's probably Superlek. And then hopefully, Superlek can fight the winner of Rodtang versus Takeru."

Watch the entire interview here:

In the same interview, Johnson explained why he considers 'The Kicking Machine' as the greatest of all time (GOAT) in both kickboxing and Muay Thai.

Meanwhile, Rodtang Jitmuangnon and Takeru Segawa will trade leather at ONE 172 on March 23, 2025, inside the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.

Their matchup was originally scheduled for ONE 165 this past January, but 'The Iron Man' was forced off the card due to injury weeks before the event. This left Takeru to challenge Superlek for the flyweight kickboxing crown.

The Kiatmoo9 Gym product fully utilized his leg kicks and crunching combos to remain on the throne via unanimous decision.

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Demetrious Johnson comments on coming out of retirement to fight Superlek

Many ONE fans still hold onto the hope that Demetrious Johnson will have a one-off megafight with Superlek, but even he knows better than to entertain such thoughts.

In an interview with MMA Fighting, the 38-year-old stated:

"Okay, let's do a super fight. Who am I gonna fight? Superlek? Yeah, I'll pass on that. I'm not getting my f***ing leg kicked off and get f***ing elbowed to oblivion."