Rodtang was scheduled to fight Takeru on April 29th in Japan for ONE Championship’s first ever Samurai 1 event. This is basically a Thailand vs Japan card. The whole event is a showcase of Japanese style kickboxing versus Muay Thai.
The last time these two warriors met in the arena, Rodtang won with a vicious signature left hook. The fight ended way sooner than anyone expected, but both sides still showed great respect for one another.
Some time passes, a few wins stack up, and Takeru calls out Rodtang after one of his victories. The Iron Man steps into the cage in front of the world and humbly accepts the challenge like a true fighter. The two square off, show respect, and go their separate ways.
The fight keeps getting promoted, and then out of nowhere, posts start blowing up on social media about Rodtang being sued by ONE Championship.
Not only was Rodtang confused, the whole world was. Why would ONE sue their homegrown superstar, the guy who basically helped put them on the map? Rodtang was their cash cow, and now we are seeing reports that they are suing him for 20 million dollars. That is wild.
Right now, what is out there is this. Rodtang’s contract is up and he is not renewing. Both sides know it. But Rodtang recently made a post saying he is a free agent and open to deals and fight offers from anywhere. ONE immediately came after him in three countries, Japan, Singapore, and Thailand, claiming defamation, pursuing outside deals during a protected contract period, and slandering the company’s name.
This escalated fast, and more details keep coming out.
At the same time, Rodtang is playing it like a professional. He is not letting the fans or his opponent down, and he is still going through with the fight. Just days after ONE announced the lawsuit, they were also posting highlights of him promoting the event. Fans were confused, but also relieved that the fight is still happening.
Everything at weigh ins looks normal, but the real fight is happening behind the scenes in back offices.
Fans are hyped for the fight, but there is also that question. Is this all a stunt to sell it? Is this chaos being manufactured to build hype? Something like the old WWE playbook, where conflict with management becomes part of the show?
Either way, it has been publicly announced that this will be Rodtang’s last fight with ONE. That alone is huge. On top of that, this is Takeru’s retirement fight, his final walk.
Rodtang will definitely keep fighting after this, but where?
What organization is going to take a pure Muay Thai fighter and pay him what ONE was paying? Could the UFC take him? Probably not for the money he would be asking at this stage of his career. His MMA game likely would not get past the lower tier of the division, but striking wise, he could knock out almost anyone if the fight stays standing.
Karate Combat feels like the perfect move stylistically, but the same issue comes up, money.
This whole situation caught fire overnight, and now the entire combat sports world is watching.
So the real question is where should Rodtang go after ONE, and do you think he could actually make it in the UFC?