Rodtang: “I’ve never seen him this fit in his life”

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Thai legend Nong-O Hama is well prepared to make another run at a world title this weekend in Japan. His teammate, Johan Ghazali, vouched for the readiness of the veteran fighter.

The former bantamweight Muay Thai king vies for the vacant flyweight gold at ONE 173: Superbon vs. Noiri on Nov. 16 at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo. He is going against the division’s former world champion and fellow Thai superstar Rodtang Jitmuangnon.

In a video posted by ONE Championship on Instagram, Ghazali, who trains with Nong-O at Superbon Training Camp in Bangkok, commented on the kind of training his senior teammate has had heading into his title clash with ‘The Iron Man’.

He highlighted that Nong-O left no stone unturned and is every bit ready, saying:

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“Ohhh Nong-O, I’ve never seen him this fit in his life, man. You can look at his body. He’s built like a f*****g monster, bro. He beats my a** every day. Look at him, he’s a f*****g machine!”

Nong-O, 39, started competing at flyweight earlier this year after dominating the bantamweightt lane, where he was the ONE world champion from 2019 to 2023. He said at this stage of his career, the 135-pound division is more suitable for him.

Meanwhile, at ONE 173, Rodtang seeks to reclaim the flyweight belt after he was stripped of it for missing weight in his title defense in November last year.

Nong-O says Rodtang title fight a huge one

Nong-O has been part of a lot of big matches in his illustrious career but he believes this one on deck against Rodtang at ONE 173 could well be his biggest.

He spoke about it in an interview with ONE Championship, underscoring that a title fight against Rodtang in Japan makes for a huge and signifcant outing.

Nong-O said:

“This fight is actually a huge one. The biggest one I have ever fought in, and I get to go to Japan.”

The Rodtang-Nong-O flyweight Muay Thai title clash is one of five championship fights featured at ONE 173, which is the second live on-ground event of ONE Championship in Japan this year.

Tickets for ONE 173: Superbon vs. Noiri are available via ePlus in Japan. The event is also live on pay-per-view exclusively at Live.ONEFC.com.

For more information on the marquee live on-ground show, follow Sportskeeda MMA and ONE Championship.