"Rodtang is going to be in for a very hard night" - Liam Harrison on Jacob Smith's Grand Prix bout at ONE 157

British ONE Championship fighter Liam Harrison recently discussed the upcoming Muay Thai tournament, which will begin on May 20

At ONE 157, Jacob Smith will be meeting Rodtang Jitmuangnon in the opening round of the ONE Muay Thai Flyweight Grand Prix. Smith's training partner, Liam Harrison, recently sat down with SCMP MMA to discuss the bout.

Harrison explained that everyone in the Muay Thai world is wrongly counting Smith out, something he expects his compatriot to prove come fight night.

"No one's talking about this young man. Jacob Smith is from my gym, fighting Rodtang in the first round. Everyone has written Jacob off. No one's giving him a second thought. But trust me, this kid can fight. He's tough as f*ck. He's an absolute beast, and win or lose, Rodtang is going to be in for a very hard night on the 20th. Trust me, I train with this guy every day, I spar with him every day, I know how strong he is... I know how determined he is. He is a very, very tough young man who is going to give Rodtang a hard night."

Catch the full interview below:

Rodtang is the reigning flyweight Muay Thai champion in ONE Championship. He is, however, coming off a loss in a mixed-rules fight against MMA great Demetrious Johnson. Rodtang has over 250 Muay Thai wins to his name and has held titles in every organization he has competed in.

English-born fighter Jacob Smith, meanwhile, is the top-ranked Muay Thai fighter in his weight class in the UK. He is also a champion in the World Muay Thai Organization.

Liam Harrison also discussed other matchups in the tournament. He chose Thai champion Superlek Kiatmuu9 over the Japanese fighter Taiki Naito.

He also said that Savvas Michael against Amir Naseri is a well-matched fight and will likely win Fight of the Night. He then chose fellow Brit Jonathan Haggerty over Walter Goncalves. He explained that the Brazilian will struggle due to being much smaller than Haggerty.

For the overall ONE Muay Thai Flyweight Grand Prix champion, here's what the British fighter said:

"Who wins the tournament? I would like to say Jacob from my gym, obviously. But if it's not him, then Superlek."

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ONE Championship to the UK? Liam Harrison says so

Liam Harrison had one of the most exciting fights in Muay Thai history recently. He fought against 'The Elbow Zombie' Muangthai P.K. Saenchaimuaythaigym and the two traded knockdowns against each other.

Harrison walked away the winner in this bout and was awarded a title shot against Nong-O for his efforts.

In his interview with SCMP, he explained that with his title opportunity and the work of other UK fighters, ONE Championship must do a show in the UK soon.

"If I win the fight and get the belt, I'd like to defend it in the UK. I talked to Chatri about this, I said, 'You need an excuse to bring ONE Championship to England. Let me be that excuse if I win that title. Let's go fill out an arena in the UK because all our fans will go wild for it, they would love it.' There's me, there's Haggerty, there's Liam Nolan, you've got Iman Barlow... It would be an incredible thing to bring ONE Championship to England."