ONE Championship CEO Chatri Sityodtong has confirmed Superlek Kiatmookao is preparing to return to flyweight and defend his kickboxing world title, as fresh intrigue was raised over the interim belt bout between Rodtang Jitmuangnon and Takeru Segawa.
Chatri was asked directly at Monday’s ONE Samurai 1 press conference in Tokyo why Rodtang and Takeru will fight for an interim flyweight kickboxing title on April 29, despite Superlek not having defended the undisputed belt since beating Takeru more than two years ago.
Chatri said the answer lay in Superlek’s own recent shift in focus.
“Superlek wanted to become a two division world champion in different sports and he has held up the division and we were not sure if he could make weight for flyweight again,” Chatri said.
“But we spoke to him before this several weeks ago and he says for his next fight he would like to defend the flyweight kickboxing world title.
“So he’s back in action and wants to stay at flyweight. I think he went up to bantamweight and decided flyweight suits him better.”
Next month’s main event is still surrounded by other questions, however.
Rodtang knocks out Takeru with a left hook at ONE 172 in March 2025
Rodtang said in a social media post earlier this week that his current ONE Championship deal has expired, and that his rematch with Takeru will be contested under a one-off contract while negotiations over a new agreement continue.
The Thai star even said he was open to hearing from rival promotions, a rare public play from one of the biggest names in the company.
On stage in Tokyo, Rodtang struck a calmer tone.
“As everyone knows I’m accepting this fight as a one-off, just only for this fight,” he said.
“There might be other organisations that have approached me but I don’t look into them because I just want to focus on this fight with Takeru first.”
Rodtang knocked out Takeru in the first round at ONE 172 in Saitama just over a year ago, handing the Japanese star one of the most painful defeats of his career.
Now Takeru has one final chance at revenge – and says it will be his last fight regardless of the result.
“The loss in the previous match is definitely one that pains me, one of the most embarrassing and painful of my career,” he said.
“Now I get this opportunity to get payback, I am very happy to get that and to win a world title belt.”
The 34-year-old Japanese superstar added: “At this point there’s not much more to say, all I can say is I’m going to win the belt and I’m going to retire, and close this part of my career.
“I am sure I will beat him. I will get revenge and win the belt, then retire. That is it.”
That creates an awkward scenario for the division.
If Rodtang wins the interim belt, he would appear the clear candidate to face Superlek later this year – provided he signs a longer-term deal – in a rematch of their 2023 Muay Thai classic.
Superlek celebrates a unanimous decision win over Takeru in Tokyo in January 2024
If Takeru wins and follows through on retirement, instead of entertaining the prospect of avenging his other defeat in ONE against Superlek, then the interim belt could become redundant almost immediately.
And hovering over all of it is Superlek, whose own career has drifted away from the flyweight dominance that once made him arguably ONE’s pound-for-pound No 1.
After building a formidable winning run across flyweight Muay Thai and kickboxing between 2022 and 2024, Superlek moved up a division to bantamweight and won the Muay Thai title with a destructive knockout of Jonathan Haggerty in Denver.
But the Bangkok Post understands the 30-year-old is now preparing for a return to flyweight after that move up brought mixed results in 2025.
He lost his bantamweight Muay Thai belt on the scale in Japan at ONE 172, before falling to Nabil Anane in their non-title rematch and then being beaten by Yuki Yoza in bantamweight kickboxing.
For now, Chatri’s comments have put one thing on record – Superlek is not done at flyweight.
What remains less clear is what shape the division will be in when he gets there.
