Yesterday afternoon, it was announced that MMA legend, Demetrious Johnson would go head to head with Muay Thai legend, Rodtang Jitmuangnon in a cross martial arts fight on December 5th.
I initially saw this on a random twitter account and thought they were trolling, so I instantly checked DJ’s twitter and he had posted that the match was official.
The fight will be four rounds with the structure being as follows:
- Round 1: Muay Thai
- Round 2: MMA
- Round 3: Muay Thai
- Round 4: MMA
Each round will be 3 minutes.
I like this concept. I think it’s something that will bring a large quantity of new eyes to ONE Championship who have really taken the Martial Arts game by storm in Asia. To have their two biggest stars from different disciplines go head to head is a huge draw for the casual viewer and if this goes well, we may see a new development in the world of combat sports.
In terms of the way I think this might play out, I think Johnson has the advantage going into this bout. In his MMA career he’s been in multiple Muay Thai situations so him building on that knowledge should help him survive the onslaught of the Thai fighter.
In the MMA portions of the fight, DJ essentially has 3 minutes to submit Rodtang, who has been training jiu-jitsu for over a year now in his quest to start MMA, but still will struggle with the wrestling prowess of ‘Mighty Mouse,’ who is by far the best wrestler in ONE as of this moment.
If this goes the full distance, it’s most likely be a draw, which gives ONE a reason to have a rematch of some sorts. Chatri has done brilliantly here and I think we could potentially see one of the most iconic Martial Arts fights of all time.
TheWrestlingFallacy 