Demetrious Johnson stops Rodtang in mixed rules bout at ONE X

We had the return of ONE Championship today, March 26, 2022, for ONE Championship X, headlined by a featherweight championship kickboxing match.

One of, if not the greatest to ever compete in mixed martial arts, 12-time UFC flyweight champion Demetrious ‘Mighty Mouse’ Johnson fought Rodtang Jitmuangnon in a mixed rules bout earlier on in the main card.

The first round was to be three minutes of Muay Thai, the second three minutes of MMA, the third three minutes of Muay Thai, and the a fourth round three minutes of MMA.

Johnson came in with a mixed martial arts record of 30-4-1, while Rodtang came in with a Muay Thai record of 267-42-10.

Many of us believed however that this fight would be over by the end of round two, and it was.

Rodtang out-struck Johnson throughout the first round, landing a number of nice combinations on the former champion whilst controlling the center of the cage. Johnson fought back well, clinched a good amount, and tried to keep his distance with kicks of his own. He even bit down and threw hard punches to counter, some of which landed.

Then, once the second round starts, the tide begins to turn.

Johnson is now the one controlling the center of the cage and pressing Rodtang backward.

Without throwing much offense, Johnson times a beautiful duck-under takedown, which immediately saw him secure the kickboxing champions back.

Rodtang remained standing for about 20 seconds, before Johnson forces him to the mat.

Johnson then sinks in a rear naked choke, which Rodtang didn’t tap to, and he was choked unconscious considering.

After ‘Mighty Mouse’ was knocked out in his latest performance, many of us were worried he wouldn’t make it past the first round against someone of Rodtang’s level on the feet. But, he survived, and the 24 year old striker isn’t well-versed on the ground enough to compete with someone like Johnson.

This was a great rebound for the best to ever do it, and a great learning experience for Rodtang. He’ll be back.

Official Result: Demetrious Johnson def. Rodtang Jitmuangnon via technical submission (rear naked choke) at 2:13 of round two

Brady Ordway

I became a fan of combat sports when I was 12 years old. I was scrolling through the channels and landed upon Versus, where WEC was televised. Urijah Faber fought Jens Pulver for the second time that night. That's the first fight I ever saw, and I was immediately hooked. So eventually, I began covering the sport in the fourth quarter of 2018, and have since started writing about animals as well. If you'd like to see those pieces, be sure to check out learnaboutnature.com!

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