Last month, the ONE Championship Featherweight Kickboxing World Eight came to an end, with Chingiz Allazov successfully defeating Sittichai Sitsongpeenong in the final round to win the championship. Just when the kickboxing world eight-man competition is not over, the ONE Championship is officially announced: the flyweight Muay Thai World Eight is about to start. Moreover, unlike in the past, the current flyweight Muay Thai world champion Rodtang Jitmuangnon will also participate.
The Flyweight Muay Thai World Eight will be staged on May 20 with current world champion Rotan, no. 1 Jonathan Haggerty, no. 2 Superlek Kiatmoo9, Taiki Naito, fourth-place flyer, Savvas Michael, babyface killer, and Savvas Michael, who is no. 4 in flyweight kickboxing. Former champion challengers Walter Gon Alves, Amir Naseri and Jacob Smith.
In the first round of quarter-finals, Rotang's opponent will be Yakob Smith, a famous Muay Thai fighter from The United Kingdom. In fact, as early as last April's "ONE: Earth-shattering", Rotang's original opponent was Jacob, but for various reasons Jacob missed this opportunity, and Danial Williams, who came off the bench, although he failed to defeat Rotang, they also jointly contributed a classic battle, which is still memorable. In this tournament, Jacob returns to the cage and will stage this belated duel with Rotang.
In the previous ONE Championship World Eights, the players not only fought for the title of Eight,But also for the right to challenge the World Championship. But this time, Luo Tang directly went down to fight with the masters, and if he can win the championship of this eight-man competition, it means that he will establish an unparalleled dominance of flyweight kickboxing.
But in fact, deciding the right to challenge through the eight-man competition is to some extent a symbol of the preferential treatment and status of the defending champion. Because the eight-man race is not only high in intensity, but also dense in frequency, it requires players to prepare and compete uninterruptedly, which adds more suspense and uncontrollable factors to the game. In both the Featherweight Kickboxing World Eight and the Atomic Weight World Eight, there have been cases in which the promoted players have withdrawn from the competition due to injury or illness. Therefore, the eight-man competition is not only a confrontation of the individual strength of the players, but also a consideration of the comprehensive ability of their teams, and even "luck" is one of the factors that determine the direction of the game.
Rotang's style is tough and aggressive, often abandoning defensive and fierce attacks in the game. Although he has a superhuman ability to resist blows, in the denser eight-man game, this style of combat undoubtedly increases his risk of injury greatly. Therefore, although no one in the flyweight has been able to shake Rotang's position so far, it is still unknown whether he can stand out in this eight-man competition. Rotang's participation shows his ambition to completely destroy all potential opponents of the flyweight, and then it is up to him to see if he can win this big gamble.