ONE CHAMPIONSHIP: RODTANG REVEALS US SEMINAR TOUR, CELEBRATES WEDDING AS HE CANCELS SUPERLEK FIGHT
- ONE's flyweight Muay Thai king confirms series of seminars in first two weeks of April as chairman Chatri Sityodtong gives update on his injury
- 'The Iron Man' also celebrated second wedding ceremony in Bangkok at the weekend with his wife Aida Looksaikongdin
It's been another busy week for Rodtang Jitmuangnon.
ONE Championship's flyweight Muay Thai king celebrated a second wedding ceremony with his wife Aida Looksaikongdin in Bangkok over the weekend, before withdrawing injured from Saturday's highly anticipated kickboxing title clash in Singapore against Superlek Kiatmoo9 on Monday.
Then on Thursday, "The Iron Man" announced a Muay Thai seminar tour of the United States, which he had previously postponed to focus on this weekend's ONE Fight Night 8 main event.
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The 25-year-old Thai is also booked for a title defence against Mexico's Edgar Tabares at ONE's on-ground US debut in Broomfield, Colorado, on May 5.
But he will travel around the same country from April 1-13 for a series of seminars at gyms in various cities, he confirmed on Instagram.
Rodtang out of ONE Fight Night 8 main event, Superlek gets new opponent
Rodtang wed his fellow fighter Aida in a nikah ceremony in February, and later confirmed he had taken a Shahadah oath and converted to Islam.
The pair celebrated with friends in Bangkok at a second ceremony on Sunday, with Rodtang's training partners Superbon Singha Mawynn and Petchtanong Petchfergus - ONE's former featherweight kickboxing champ, and current bantamweight kickboxing king, respectively - among those present.
"Just the two of us," Aida wrote in an Instagram post, including a video of their celebrations.
Superlek, who said he still feels a fight against Rodtang is "inevitable", landed a new short-notice opponent in Danial Williams for ONE Fight Night 8 at Singapore Indoor Stadium, with the pair facing off at the same venue for Thursday morning's press conference.
At the same event, ONE chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong revealed Rodtang had suffered a lower back injury, but insisted he will be fit to compete in Colorado.
"Superlek is one of the greatest pound-for-pound strikers in the world," Chatri said on stage. "He was actually the favourite to beat Rodtang, that's how good he is.
"You talk about the Muay Thai community of experts in Thailand, they predicted right now that Superlek would beat Rodtang.
"But we're very fortunate to have 'Mini T' [Williams] stepping up. He's a former world champion with WMC, stepping up for the biggest fight of his life.
"He's an unbelievable fighter, a KO artist, comes guns-a-blazing and he's got a granite chin. When you look at Superlek versus 'Mini T', I tell you that it's going to be just as exciting - if not more exciting - than Superklek versus Rodtang.
"It's going to be a barnburner, and I don't think it's going to last the full five rounds."
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2023-03-23T09:54:24Z dg43tfdfdgfd
