'Iron Man' Rodtang looks to settle a score with Japanese star Nasukawa
Reigning ONE flyweight Muay Thai world champion Rodtang “Iron Man” Jitmuangnon is one of the most dominant and explosive fighters in the world. The way he just demolishes his opponents in the ring is absolutely astounding.
There’s nothing quite like watching Rodtang mow down his foes with such power, precision, and brute force.
Not many have been able to stand firm against him in the ring. He’s caused so many fighters to crumble under his immense pressure. Without a doubt, Rodtang has come very far in his career, and he has so much more ahead of him.
But if there’s one fight he definitely wants to run back, it’s against Japanese superstar Tenshin Nasukawa whom he met in the ring in June of 2018.
At the time, Rodtang was merely 21 years of age, locking horns with a fellow-young phenomenon. The fight was contested under kickboxing rules under the Rise banner in Tokyo. It was a closely-contested and exciting matchup between two young stars.
After five rounds of action, ringside judges had the fight at a draw, which means an extra round was necessary to determine the winner. Nasukawa ended up winning the round and taking the fight, although many fans and observers thought Rodtang had done enough to win. The result has been marred with controversy since.
“I think I was able to bring out my weapons in that fight. It was a close fight, but I thought I won. I can say for sure that I definitely improved so much since then. If we faced each other again this time around, things will be different,” Rodtang said, recalling the experience.
“If I get the chance to compete against him again, I would love to hunt him down for my Thai fans. I’m sure I can beat him and make my fans proud.”
He joined ONE Super Series in September 2018.
Since then, Rodtang has gone on to win even bigger fights, while gaining experience competing against the absolute best, including guys like Superbank Mor Ratanabandit, Saeksan Or. Kwanmuang, Kaonar PK SaenchaiMuaythaiGym, and former ONE world champions Jonathan Haggerty and Petchdam Petchyindee Academy.
Nasukawa is the current Rizin kickboxing featherweight world champion, and the current current RISE featherweight champion. Putting together this fight would be difficult because the two fighters are signed to different companies.
But despite all this, Rodtang still craves a rematch with Nasukawa, which he hopes will be under the ONE Super Series banner sometime in the near future.
“I would love to fight Tenshin again. Honestly, I couldn’t sleep after that fight because I really thought I won. I hope we can meet one day again soon so I can prove it in the ring,” said Rodtang.
The 23-year-old “Iron Man” in a recent interview also mentioned wanting to try his hand at ONE Super Series kickboxing, which offers a host of exciting new matchups for the Thai star. He also didn’t rule out perhaps stepping into the Circle to transition to mixed martial arts one day.
“I love taking on new challenges. Kickboxing is definitely something I am considering and am open to, and mixed martial arts is something I would like to try in the future. I’m still young and developing, let’s see how far we can go,” Rodtang said.
