“Rodtang is looking ripped ahead of his showdown with Nong-O at The Inner Circle 38!” ONE Championship wrote on X on Saturday, six days before the two Thai stars meet with a tournament place on the line.
The promotion didn’t leave it at the physique check. In the same post it asked whether Rodtang can secure a spot in the ONE Flyweight Muay Thai World Grand Prix semifinals, which is the whole point of Friday night. Rodtang Jitmuangnon and Nong-O Hama headline The Inner Circle 38 on Friday, November 13, in a quarterfinal of that Grand Prix. First bell is set for 6:30 p.m. ICT, which lands at 6:30 a.m. ET for anyone in the States willing to set an alarm.
ONE billed the matchup as a “blockbuster ONE Flyweight Muay Thai World Grand Prix quarterfinal” in an earlier post that same day, and it’s tough to argue with the marketing on this one. Two names this big in a single-elimination bracket means somebody famous goes home in the first round. That’s the cruelty of a tournament, and it’s exactly why these things are fun.
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The physique post is promotion, plain and simple. Still, in a Grand Prix the first thing you want to know about any fighter is whether he arrived at fight week in one piece, and ONE is clearly telling fans Rodtang did. How that conditioning holds up against Nong-O once the clinch work and body kicks start piling up is a different conversation, one that gets answered in the ring.
The bracket doesn’t stop with the main event. Ramadan Ondash and Shimon, whom ONE called “rising stars,” fight on the same card for their own place in the semifinals. That means two of the final four could be settled before most of the East Coast has had coffee. PTT also faces Hamza Rachid on the lineup.
The card streams on The Inner Circle, ONE’s subscription platform, which runs USD9.99 a month. The promotion is offering 10% off the first month with the code WELCOME10.
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If Rodtang’s shape matches the hype, he walks out of Friday as a Grand Prix semifinalist. If Nong-O spoils it, ONE’s tournament loses its loudest name in Round 1. Either way, the semifinal field starts filling in on November 13.
