“There Is No Reason for Him To Fear Me” – Superlek Kiatmoo9 Shows Respect for Rodtang Jitmuangnon Before Clash at One Friday Fights 34

Superlek Kiatmoo9 is not about ducking fights, and he believes his friend and upcoming rival is built the same way. 

“The Kicking Machine” is set to face Rodtang Jitmuangnon in the main event of ONE Friday Fights 34 this Friday, September 22, with their highly anticipated battle going down inside the iconic Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand. 

Superlek shuts down talks about Rodtang avoiding a fight against him

Originally scheduled to be a contest for the ONE Flyweight Muay Thai World Championship, their bout will now be contested at a 140-pound catchweight after Superlek missed weight. Fans and fellow fighters have long called for a fight between them, as they are two of the best strikers in the world today. However, in the four years that they have both been competing in ONE, they have never faced each other. In a recent interview with ONE, Superlek disucssed his relationship with “The Iron Man,” admitting that they are friends outside competition and have a mutual admiration for each other inside of it.“I’m fairly close to him. Rodtang is such a nice guy. We used to play soccer together. He’s a humble and funny person. He is one of those fighters that young fighters should look up to,” he said. 

“We used to tease each other about our fight, saying we shouldn’t fight each other. But we realized that sooner or later, we couldn’t avoid it. Last time we had a chat, we talked about this fight, and he said, ‘Wait a bit. I still don’t want to fight you.’ But we are professional fighters. We must do our jobs when the matchmaker throws any opponent our way.” In 2022, Rodtang entered the ONE Flyweight Muay Thai World Grand Prix in an attempt to assert his dominance in the division. Superlek was grouped in the opposite bracket of the tournament, which caused many to believe that they would end up against each other in the final round. Unfortunately, the divisional king could not compete in the semifinal round, ending hopes of the dream matchup. 

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Superlek kept the hope of a clash alive by winning his bracket, however, as the winner of the Grand Prix was promised a shot at the ONE Flyweight Muay Thai World Championship. “The Kicking Machine” went on to win the tournament, taking out Rodtang’s teammate Panpayak Jitmuangnon in the final. But as the match was contested at catchweight, he wasn’t able to lift the coveted silver belt or make a claim at a World Title match. His run of brilliance later led him to claim the ONE Flyweight Kickboxing World Title – a strap that Rodtang has desired for years. They were set to face each other earlier this year, before “The Iron Man” was forced to pull out due to injury.  Fans were again disappointed, and the fight between them appeared even less likely when Superlek defended his strap against Nabil Anane at ONE Friday Fights 22 in June and proceeded to call out bantamweight Muay Thai king Jonathan Haggerty instead of Rodtang. 

Superlek thinks Rodtang is a word-class superstar, has no reason to be afraid of him 

He said his motivation for doing so was to keep World Titles in Thailand by competing against foreigners and not fellow Thais, but this led some to speculate that he was purposely avoiding a direct confrontation with Rodtang. Superlek brushed off these rumors decisively, however, saying that he and “The Iron Man” would never shy away from a clash. 

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“In my opinion, [neither of us] are afraid. It’s purely an accident that caused our earlier fight to be canceled [in March]. He got injured from training,” he said. “I never see any opponent as afraid of me. They all want to fight with me. And especially for Rodtang, he is a world-class superstar. There is no reason for him to fear me.”