“I don't think it's going to last for another 10 years” – Demetrious Johnson explains why Rodtang’s style needs to evolve

​

Demetrious Johnson (R) believes Rodtang (L) will need to change his style at some point. | [Photos: ONE Championship/South China Morning Post]

Demetrious Johnson believes that Rodtang Jitmuangnon is called ‘The Iron Man’ for a reason. However, he thinks the young Thai should learn how to adapt to stay in the fight game longer.

In an interview with ONE Championship, Johnson shared that he thought Rodtang takes an incredible amount of punishment with his style of fighting, which might not be the best for him in the long term. However, he understands that he needs to be in top form when he does step into the circle with him at ONE X.

Demetrious Johnson said:

“I'm going to have to do my best, obviously, Rodtang, you know, that's his world, he's got a chin of granite. He's been hit by the best athletes in the world. You know, John Haggerty kicked the flesh in the neck. Mini-T cut him with a left and a right. So the guy's got to change. He's 24 years old. I mean, you know, I don't think it's going to last for another 10 years if he keeps going in that way of fighting. But you know, we'll see what happens.”

---

Demetrious Johnson doesn’t feel the need to change his style for Rodtang at ONE X

Despite Rodtang’s ability to withstand incredible amounts of punishment, Demetrious Johnson doesn’t believe that he should change his own style when he goes up against the ONE flyweight Muay Thai world champion.

During the interview, Johnson shared his observations on the relative success of fighters who have shared the stage with Rodtang before, such as Walter Goncalves, Danial Williams and Jonathan Haggerty. All these fighters found a way to hit Rodtang cleanly using a lot of angles and movements, which Johnson says is all part of his usual fight style.

As such, he believes that it can bring him success during the Muay Thai rounds, as opposed to the common notion that he will get owned in those frames.

“A lot of people get this stereotype that Muay Thai, you have to move forward. But if you look at Rodtang's last, I don't know four or five fights in Muay Thai-kickboxing. It wasn't like three minutes of just this, you know, Rodtang would do this. And his opponents would do this and use angles around him. So if you look at all my fights, I've never, I've always used angles and footwork in all my combat and in all my fights. So why would I change?”

​