“Fighters are afraid of the Rodtang heat” - Rodtang demands to scrap in heated matchup against Walter Goncalves

Rodtang Jitmuangnon’s first defense of his ONE flyweight Muay Thai world championship belt happened in October 2019 at ONE: Century Part II, which went down inside the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo, Japan, where he faced Walter Goncalves.

The Thai sensation was coming off his world title triumph against Jonathan Haggerty in August 2019 with a unanimous decision nod from the judges. It was also Goncalves’ first match under the world’s largest martial arts organization, and he was immediately given a shot for gold.

In a recent video posted by ONE Championship on their Instagram account, they highlighted a short clip where Rodtang was inviting Goncalves to exchange strikes with him instead of running away and being in defensive mode.

They captioned the video with:

““The Iron Man” wants to SCRAP 🤖 Who’s next in line for Rodtang? @rodtang_jimungnon⁠ #ONEChampionship #MartialArts #Kickboxing”

This brought entertainment from fans as comments from platform users @helexia, @ninisita27, @tigertom02, and @simonzmwu claimed that other fighters are frightened by ‘The Iron Man’s’ power and said that they will do the same if Rodtang charges toward them.

They commented:

“Fighters are afraid of the Rodtang heat 😂”

“He doesn’t want to scrap, he wants to fight with heart 🙌”

“Can someone actually stand face to face with rodtang? Wanna see the 🔥🔥🔥”

“Rodtang, respectfully, if you’re coming at me with a punch, I will try my best to dodge 😂”

Screenshot of fan comments

In the end, Rodtang was able to capture the split decision victory to successfully defend his title for the first time and extend his win tally to six.

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Fans play matchmaker for Rodtang’s next fight

Fans who chimed in on the post mentioned a few names that the reigning ONE flyweight Muay Thai world champion should face next. Spearheaded by the comments of users @marioolachia, @william_lesmana_ig, @dedy_s411, and @greatstortun_gun_dogs, they revealed their dream matchup for Rodtang:

“General Jonathan part 3???”

“Superlek for ONE Flyweight Kickboxing World Title 🏆👊👍@superlek789”

“@k1takeru vs @rodtang_jimungnon please @onechampionship“

“Superlek 5 rounds? Obviously”

More comments from fans

There are no official details yet on who the 26-year-old will face next, but he is expected to be pitted against another superstar from the roster to headline another mega showdown that will surely give the fans an all-out striking spectacle.