Superlek doesn’t blame Rodtang for pulling out of their initial fight last March: “He got injured”

The hype and clamor around the possible fight between ONE flyweight kickboxing world champion Superlek Kiatmoo9 and ONE flyweight Muay Thai world champion Rodtang Jitmuangnon have been around since the two joined the world’s largest martial arts organization.

The separate success of winning their own world titles has added more fanfare to their dream match, where they accumulated a combined 25 wins in ONE Championship. In March 2023, the two Thai superstars were supposed to finally face each other in the main event of ONE Fight Night 8.

However, ‘The Iron Man’ suffered an injury in the buildup to the fight, which forced ONE to find a replacement opponent for Superlek. Eventually, ‘The Kicking Machine’ fought Danial Williams to save the card and knocked him out to successfully defend his flyweight kickboxing world title.

Despite the sudden change of plans, the 27-year-old didn’t hold Rodtang responsible for the fallout of their initial fight. Instead, he showed sympathy for what happened. Superlek revealed this in an interview with ONE Championship.

The Kiatmoo9 Gym athlete said:

"In my opinion, [neither of us] are afraid. It’s purely an accident that caused our earlier fight to be canceled [in March]. He got injured from training."

Six months later, the two are once again booked to headline ONE Friday Fights 34 inside the iconic Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, on September 22. Both Superlek and Rodtang will be carrying momentum, with the former riding a seven-fight winning streak while the latter holds four of his own.

ONE Friday Fights is available for free weekly on ONE Championship’s official YouTube page.