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Rodtang Jitmuangnon knows he'll be in for a tough assignment against Takeru Segawa, but he's banking on his newfound fire to propel him to victory in Saitama, Japan. The Thai megastar enjoyed a perfect 2024 with two victories from as many outings.
However, it was his battle on the scales that outweighed both his stellar wins. 'The Iron Man' lost his 26 pounds of gold in the lead-up to his Jacob Smith fight.
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With that lesson serving as a motivation, the former ONE flyweight Muay Thai world champion revealed to the promotion that he's heading into his Takeru super fight with the very same hunger that took him to stardom.
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He said:
“Since the fight where I lost my ONE world title on the scales, I have been looking forward to becoming the same old Rodtang. I am motivated to try and avoid the same mistakes," he told reporters during an open workout session last week.
A hungry Rodtang is a nightmare for anyone to deal with. Every opponent who's squared off against the Jitmuangnon Gym representative can attest to that.
However, with a lot of concerns raised about his pre-fight approaches in recent times, the Bangkok-based warrior is determined to remind the millions who will tune in at ONE 172 this weekend why he is absolutely must-see TV.
Rodtang-Takeru and all the world title fights set for ONE 172
Before two of the planets biggest striking superstars, Rodtang and Takeru, collide in the star attraction of ONE 172, the card will play host to five epic world title matchups.
Tawanchai PK Saenchai goes for two-sport glory against Masaaki Noiri in a ONE interim featherweight kickboxing world title slugfest.
Superlek Kiatmoo9 and Nabil Anane run it back in a heated ONE bantamweight Muay Thai world title unification contest, while Phetjeeja Lukjaoporongtom puts her 26 pounds of gold on the line against Kana Morimoto.
In addition, there's a ONE interim strawweight kickboxing world title fight between two former kingpins Sam-A Gaiyanghadao and Jonathan Di Bella.
Lastly, Adriano Moraes seeks to kickstart his fourth reign as the flyweight MMA world champion in his rematch versus Yuya Wakamatsu.
The ONE 172 pay-per-view is available at watch.onefc.com.
Watch the full interview here:
