Demetrious Johnson was shocked his non-MMA friends knew Rodtang

Demetrious Johnson already knew Rodtang Jitmuangnon was a superstar, but he didn’t expect the Thai megastar’s notoriety would reach his non-combat sports friends.

Rodtang and Johnson were both on the card for ONE Fight Night 10: Johnson vs. Moraes III on Prime Video, and ‘Mighty Mouse’ saw firsthand just how influential the Thai megastar is.

Demetrious Johnson successfully defended his ONE flyweight world title against arch-rival Adriano Moraes in the main event, but their headlining match also featured an intense crowd reaction the moment Rodtang walked back into the general area.

Rodtang was in the co-main event wherein he retained his ONE flyweight Muay Thai world title against Edgar Tabares. ‘The Iron Man’ then decided to watch Johnson’s fight in person causing the crowd inside the sold-out 1stBank Center to pop.

During the post-event press conference, Demetrious Johnson said that he couldn’t hear much of the crowd’s cheers for Rodtang, but he does know that the Muay Thai legend is already known outside the martial arts community.

Johnson recalled how his friends reacted when he told them about his mixed-rules fight against Rodtang in March 2022 for ONE X:

“When I was getting ready to fight him, when ONE Championship offered that fight to me, I was like ‘yeah I’m gonna take it’ because all my friends, they don’t watch mixed martial arts right?"

"But then when I was like ‘Yeah my next fight is gonna be against Rodtang’ they were like ‘You fighting him? You fighting Rodtang?!’ I was like ‘You know who Rodtang is?’ he goes ‘Oh that’s a bad m*********** I know who he is!’"

Demetrious Johnson, who is considered one of the greatest fighters of all time, closed his rivalry with Adriano Moraes when he took a unanimous decision win in their trilogy bout at ONE Fight Night 10.

Rodtang, meanwhile, secured another successful world title defense when he knocked out Tabares in the second round of their match.

Prime Video subscribers in North America can watch the ONE Fight Night 10 replays for free.