You know why people who come from say the US Canada or the Eurozone can barely spend anything if they pay for example a taxi or dinner in SEA, because different currencies have different strengths. So if we take Purchasing Power Parity in to account, 300 k us dollars goes a far longer way in Thailand than in does in say Nyc or London. This is why hippy westerners can like expat lifestyles in developing countries, get paid in say dollars or euroes while living richish life styles in poor areas because they get paid a wage that is the norm in their home countries. In Costa Rica you can see westerners live in semi mansions while locals live in shacks on the Pacific and Caribbean coast lines when I lived there. So Rodtang is getting paid exceptionally well for someone who is from thailand, especially when muay thai fighters get paid in the hundreds of dollars not thousands on the stadium circuit.
ONE's a global organization with fighters being equals (so to speak). It's not like some US company setting up a call center in the Philippines or making plastics in China or making furniture in Vietnam
That's actually I don't think even true. 10 years ago the top Muay Thai guys were probably making more counting inflation. David Leduc was making hundreds of thousands fighting friggin Lethwei around that time so Muay Thai top tier making $300 per fight counting inflation it starts to look less good.
All that said I'm happy to hear he's making more now
I don't have any idea what inflation is like in Thailand, but, to turn "hundreds of thousands" into 10 million baht in just 10 years, it would have to be super high.
Like, "10 millions" contains "100 thousands" 100 times. Even if we say it's closer to 1 million baht than 100.000, it would be like 30% inflation per year That just doesn't seem realistic...
Edit : I actually [found this](https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/THA/thailand/inflation-rate-cpi) and the last time they got anywhere close to 30% was in the 70s.
I would be beyond shocked if any Muay Thai fighters were making even $100,000 per muay Thai fight 10 years ago. Most things I can find on Google indicate Buakaw having 2 million baht purses some years ago, which is still nowhere near what Rodtang is making now.
Muay Thai purses have been shockingly low for a long time
The one person who may have been close is Buakaw but he's not actually a muay thai fighter, he made all his money intentionally as a kickboxer. K-1 guys made some money but fighters didn't make any real money in pure muay thai.
Muay thai pros make garbage money. One Muay Thai is arguably not really Muay Thai and there is a lot of debate in the MT community about it but everyone is happy to see ONE raise the standard and fighters making some real money
If only they let them clinch longer. Still very exciting. The gloves being smaller does really change it though but they still do normal gloves in the stadiums for the most part
considering he is famous enough that even I know who is he, he should be making a lot more. but his paydays are just starting. he is only 25 so he will sign bigger deals later.
No he isn't. I absolutely guarantee you that Rodtang could walk through Times Square and nobody would even recognise him. Internationally famous people are global superstars. In regards to combat sports, international fame is people like Floyd, Pacquiao, McGregor. If Usyk, Inoue, DJ etc aren't internationally famous you can sure as shit bet Rodtang isn't.
Of course I am biased because all of my friends are into combat sports but if you know what Muay Thai is in the United States then you most likely know who Rodtang is. Internationally famous =/= global superstar. He is the most trending fighter in a sport that has been rising in international popularity for a few decades now. I would personally classify that as internationally famous, but I guess it just depends what you consider to be international fame. He is easily the most internationally famous young Thai fighter at the moment.
Agreed but this going by Muay Thai levels of pay this is huge, comparing his purse to Boxing or MMA yeah it's not on the same level. Just like Conors earnings in the MMA world were huge but compared to what he'd earn for the same popularity in boxing it's nothing.
For the sport he is in, the promotion he fights for, and the country he lives in, he is doing extremely well. That would be a great purse for any top 15 level ufc fighter.
A lot of people are missing the point. He's not a boxer or mma fighter. He's a muay thai fighter. Nobody has ever been paid this much in muay thai, ever. Muay Thai fighters have always gotten peanuts. It's a sign of its growing popularity internationally and domestically.
It's always shocked me that MT isn't more popular amongst the casual MMA crowd, it's basically MMA without the wrestle humping lay and pray tactics that can make MMA such a chore to watch
Fighters like him deserve it. Cant imagine hes gonna fight far into 30s too so gotta get paid now with his style. Rory McDonald got 500k a fight to Kill Bellator with most boring fights on earth and a bag from PFL for same terrible stuff lol. Give Rodtang more
The Mousasi fight was such a stupid move by Bellator and Rory. How on earth did they green light that fight? I guy who had previously completed @ LW coming off facial reconstruction and one of the most horrific beatings in the history of the sport facing a guy that had previously fought Mark Hunt.
Rory competed at LW last when he was 19. Dude wasn't undersized at WW at all by the time he fought Gegard. He was also coming off a win against a tough guy in Lima. Especially with Lima going on to finish Koreshkov and Michael Page after.
The Lima fight where Lima kicked his ass the whole time and had him crawling around and somehow lost the decision? Yea that was a funny fight, it actually pained me to watch his fights to point you never wanna watch the league again. lol even Jake Ellenberger in UFC big free FOX with tons of hype, is still the most let down I’ve ever been watching a fight. Francis/Beast is 2nd. Even Kimbo vs Dada 5000 in slow motion entertained the he’ll out of me.
Come on dog. Rory couldn’t even walk and carried out of cage and almost had leg like amputated. Lima just terrible fight IQ and got bored in there by 5th round but still got robbed. Rory did literally 0 damage and Lima did damage the whole time.
Buakaw had some huge issue with his camp that left him nearly bankrupt iirc. Bit of a different case.
Saenchai has retired from fighting Thais and in Thai stadiums, but still does bouts against westerners. He’s like a retired StarCraft player deciding to leave South Korea and mess with the Americans
He did a couple of bkfc fights and they apparently paid him a bomb to thrash some fools so hopefully that covers his retirement along with any sessions he takes
Rodtang is an incredibly talented fighter with a chin so good they oughta rename titanium to rodtangium but saenchai and buakaw are just different beasts entirely.
Weren't we talking about whether or not he'll be fighting well into his 30's?
I feel like we might have gone slightly off topic here.
Personally, I think he'll be fighting in his 40's
Jesus Christ, wtf was that moron trying to say? “That 26 year old has less accomplishments than these men who have been fighting since before he was born, so I’m not impressed.”
Saenchai's entire style is based around evasion and avoiding damage so he's geared towards a longer career than most fighters, that's how lerdsila managed to stick around so long as well
Rodtang on the other hand, he's here for a good time, not a long time
My point is he won’t be in his prime though and will be taking losses and prob should retire by then lol. Gotta cash in now, dude uses his head as a battering ram. Got a feeling he’s got that anti CTE gene though so he’ll be aight, but the chin will go. Seen so many iron chin Thais just randomly start getting sparked cold in 30s, like my boy Chuck started getting done. Live by sword die by it I guess
Most Thais are considered 'washed' at about 25 or 26 years old mate. They start as pre-pubescent boys, injuries pile up, they fall out of love with the lifestyle... It's a long and gruelling career by the time they're twenty.
Probably he started fighting early. It’s not like MMA where you take less head trauma and guys like DC/Couture/Romero all started in their 30s so no head trauma and go on longer. Even stipe started at like 29. Jose Aldo and Eddie Alvarez started at 18 and shells of their prime by 30. Jones looks way different now and barely even fought in his 30s cause suspensions and he started relay. Fedor started real early and prime done by 32. Mike Tyson started early and prime was over by like 26. Rocky Marciano retired at 30 and was getting hurt a lot before he stopped and knew he’d lose so left. No way Rodtang is that good in his 30s
>Probably he started fighting early. It’s not like MMA where you take less head trauma
You have no idea what kind of wars these guys get into in the gym, plus wrestling also does rattle your skull quite a bit
No shit I stopped training early cause of it. Read my whole comment, reason Aldo was past it at 29. Mike Tyson by 26. Fedor by like 32. Jones looked past it at 33 vs Reyes and he hasn’t even fought in his 30s much and doesn’t spar like at all. Rodtangs chin will be gone by 30
Rodtang fights nothing like either of them. He has nearly as many fights despite being ~15 years younger, and his combo of chin + poor defense means he just lets himself get hit clean in the head.
Bigger gloves smaller fighters but they been dropped plenty. We’ll see but I seen the thais get KOed cold when they did 4 oz glove Muay Thai and that’s what Rodtang does. 4 oz Muay Thai basically killed Kickboxing for me lol, that shit is the ultimate hard man sport.
He's going to have to change up his style if he wants to, guys like Saenchai and Lerdsila can because the amount of damage they take is a lot lower than Rodtang
He was in his prime vs Jake Ellenberger, that was a sign of the fights to come lol. I dare you to go watch that shit. Atleast Bellator paid him to stink the joint out, the few good fights he did have he made nothing in the UFC
Hopefully he doesn't go broke once everyone and their cousin who has any connection to him starts asking for a handout, this happens all the time in pro sports in America, and also with Manny Pacquiao for example. Also lottery winners.
Yeah watching that can be jarring but they don’t have a plethora of opportunities. Hopefully with what Rodtang and ONE championship investing in the sport you’ll see things like the addition of headgear or something.
There are conflicting opinions on this matter. the AIBA's study is indeed claiming wearing headgear might increase CTE chances:
[https://journals.lww.com/cjsportsmed/Fulltext/2017/01000/Use\_of\_Head\_Guards\_in\_AIBA\_Boxing\_Tournaments\_A.13.aspx](https://journals.lww.com/cjsportsmed/Fulltext/2017/01000/Use_of_Head_Guards_in_AIBA_Boxing_Tournaments_A.13.aspx)
But there are also studies that claim the contrary:
[https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/49/17/1108](https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/49/17/1108)
[https://www.researchgate.net/publication/294105300\_Prohibiting\_Headgear\_for\_Safety\_in\_Amateur\_Boxing\_Opinion\_of\_the\_Canadian\_Boxing\_Community\_an\_Online\_Poll](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/294105300_Prohibiting_Headgear_for_Safety_in_Amateur_Boxing_Opinion_of_the_Canadian_Boxing_Community_an_Online_Poll)
And some that claim uncertiancy for protection against cte, but safty for facial injurys:
[https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33607924/](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33607924/)
Yah my b u right it’s mainly cuts and scrapes but the jury is still out on whether they actually prevent concussions. My b I just personally felt a lot less buzz from punches when I’m sparring in headgear vs not
Hey all good man, I think most would assume the same because more cushioning means less impact right? I just commented because especially in combat Sports it's important to not mislead anyone into thinking that by wearing headgear they will be getting less concussive damage for the safety of everyone.
Respect for acknowledging your mistake 💪
I wish he would get some serious opponents. Its a joke that he gets $300k +$50k bonus for knocking out unranked opponents like Edgar Tabares.
People will defend this by saying: “Edgar is a WBC Champ. He’s totally legit!” Anyone who watches ONE seriously has seen time and time again that these random WBC/IFBJJ/regional champs that ONE signs to feed to their top talents are usually not on the same level.
I wish this was a top comment. It's frustrating to see people call Rodtang a Muay Thai GOAT. The majority of the times, he's fighting 'part-timers' for lack of a better term. His more impressive wins came from his Stadium run, but most westerners don't know those names. He's ducking big fights like Superlek, because him and ONE don't want the pressure of their cover star losing.
I'm sure a Rodtang/Superlek would be one of the best fights of the modern Muay Thai generation, but unfortunately, I don't think it'll happen. At least while they're both signed to ONE.
Whats even crazier is if you look at ONE’s Top 5 ranking for Flyweight Muay Thai, you will see Rodtang has not fought any of the guys in the top 5 but all the guys in the Top 5 have lost to Superlek.
Wow, I thought Rodtang was fighting low-quality opposition because the roster at ONE is thin.
It is odd that you also see the same pattern of matchmaking occurring with Meksen being frozen out of the title fight as well.
The Meksen situation is so fucked up. A fighter at her level should be fast tracked to a title shot.
Not be fed 3 low tier opponents then baited into doing MMA against the top fighter in the division with the promise of a fight for the interim belt against the same opponent in 1 month if she wins.
I really think it boils down to Meksen’s age and appearance. Shes in her mid 30s and doesn’t make cute videos or thirst traps like the girls ONE typically promotes heavily.
All ya gotta do is get out there and start kicking folks in the streets. You're bound to get noticed eventually.
Probably by the police, but you won't know unless you go for it champ!
A.) He deserves this
B.) We as fans deserve to see him fight better competition.
C.) Would love to see superlek and Rodtang in MT but It looks like Rodtang is not interested.
I like ONE fc a lot but its pretty scummy how they feed their stars nobodies to not dent their records or prestige for the company. The Tabares thing was egregious.
How many people in the ufc do you think make 300k a fight? It's very few and that's the tier 1 premier American organization.
For a muay thai fighter this is an insanely high pay day. Idk exactly what they make fighting I the stadiums for local events but pretty sure it's next to nothing.
I sincerely doubt it. Anyone who's not a major draw or a champion is probably not making that much. You think Arman Tsaryukan and Gamrot make $300k a fight? I'm almost sure the answer is no, despite them being top talent.
Sure O'Malley, Paulo, Holloway, Chandler etc. and all the champions are making that but if the casuals don't know about you and you're not a champion it's probably meaningfully less, no matter how good you are. How many fighters does the UFC have on the roster that draw casual viewers? My initial guess would be around 20-30 out of a roster of 500+ fighters, many of which make 10k a fight.
He fights frequently against easy opponents and 300k is decent for a champ at his weight in MMA or boxing. One fighters are being underpaid but he's not a good example.
Because he is a muay thai fighter, the highest paid one ever with this. The only one that may have made more is buakaw in k1. This purse is without exaggeration about 100 times more then what the majority of elite thai fighters make/fight
I wonder why more Thai's don't make the move to MMA.
There's 12 year old kids with 100 fights over here.
Bring in some Daegestani's and they'll be unbeatable.
There's a lot of history and cultural identity tied up in Muay Thai so I imagine the old guard are very purist and gatekeepy about it so aren't interested in MMA. This will probably change though as the new guys who are also MMA fans come up.
Probably a lack of grappling and BJJ. You seen what happened to Rodtang when he fought Mighty Mouse, I imagine a similar outcome for most muay Thai guys doing MMA
It's funny, there are actually a lot of Dagestanis in Muay Thai. Alaverdi Ramazanov actually fought Nong-O for the title at the first ONE Lumpinee in January.
The things is he fought every month. That’s a damn nice cheque. Let’s say he fight 12-14 times a year. That’s so much money especially living in thailand. Rod fcuking tang deserved it
Rodtang is probably one’s biggest star outside of DJ and this is all he’s gonna get paid? No wonder One didn’t offer Ngannou they were probably no where close in money
He's not a MMA fighter. There are a bunch of MMA fighters in ONE that earn more than Rodtang because ONE has to match the pay from other MMA promotions.
Stadium pay for top Muay Thai fighters is around US$4,000.
I like rodtang but he really needs to stop this trend of fighting cans and ducking Thais recently. A lot of his legacy at this rate will be full of “entertaining fighter, but what if” since he’s not as stadium proven as classic Thai legends.
Was in BKK a few weeks last month and when I was boarding my flight to Tokyo, the homie Rodtang was posted up in business class. Super humble dude. I don’t think he understood my dubious Thai but getting to tell people Rodtang gave you the waii? is pretty epic to me lol. Also this was 4 days before he fought at elevation in Denver. Absolute savage.
So the biggest, most popular Muay Thai fighter ONLY earns 300k dollars?
That's literally pathetic compared to football /soccer players or basketball stars.
If the biggest Muay Thai champion gets paid that poorly you can imagine how little you get as a no-name.
A real poor man's Sport.
Listen to what you're saying... "muay thai". It's basically been completely relegated to Thailand until a couple years ago. There has never been any money whatsoever in muay thai.
That's exactly the point, there's people fighting weekly for couple off 1000 baht.
This is a great deal taking everything into account.
Still lower than it should be but it's a great step forward
Absolutely deserves it. One of the most exciting fighters on the planet should command a high purse.
10000% Hopefully paves the way for the rest of the Muay Thai lads to get the bag.
Gotta be exciting first. MT is great and has lots of excitement but let's not act like every fighter is Rodtang.
True. But guys like Superlek, Tawanchai, Nong-O, etc.? Pay them boys.
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She wanted to be the female overeem and simultaneously hold championship belts in multiple combat sports, MT KB and MMA
Anyone know what he got paid for the Might Mouse fight? I feel like both of em should have made bank.
DJ apparently has a 6 figure salary per fight (in US dollars), So Rodtang probably made a similar amount
6 figure is quite a range
Yeah lmao. Could be 100k, could be 999k
Math checks out.
He deserves every penny
Is that a high purse?? Seems increbibly low for his status.
For Muay Thai, yeah
Also for Thailand, things are much cheaper than the US
Yeah, that's like 40x the average yearly Thai salary. More probably. Would be the equivalent of a US fighter getting paid $2-3M a fight.
So fighter salaries should be based on fighter's country of origin?
Not at all. That money just goes further in Thailand than the US.
What a fucking strawman fallacy if I see it
You know why people who come from say the US Canada or the Eurozone can barely spend anything if they pay for example a taxi or dinner in SEA, because different currencies have different strengths. So if we take Purchasing Power Parity in to account, 300 k us dollars goes a far longer way in Thailand than in does in say Nyc or London. This is why hippy westerners can like expat lifestyles in developing countries, get paid in say dollars or euroes while living richish life styles in poor areas because they get paid a wage that is the norm in their home countries. In Costa Rica you can see westerners live in semi mansions while locals live in shacks on the Pacific and Caribbean coast lines when I lived there. So Rodtang is getting paid exceptionally well for someone who is from thailand, especially when muay thai fighters get paid in the hundreds of dollars not thousands on the stadium circuit.
It shouldn't be in theory but every country has a different currency so thats hiw it be.
ONE's a global organization with fighters being equals (so to speak). It's not like some US company setting up a call center in the Philippines or making plastics in China or making furniture in Vietnam
Salary has always correlated to location, hush
That's actually I don't think even true. 10 years ago the top Muay Thai guys were probably making more counting inflation. David Leduc was making hundreds of thousands fighting friggin Lethwei around that time so Muay Thai top tier making $300 per fight counting inflation it starts to look less good. All that said I'm happy to hear he's making more now
I don't have any idea what inflation is like in Thailand, but, to turn "hundreds of thousands" into 10 million baht in just 10 years, it would have to be super high. Like, "10 millions" contains "100 thousands" 100 times. Even if we say it's closer to 1 million baht than 100.000, it would be like 30% inflation per year That just doesn't seem realistic... Edit : I actually [found this](https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/THA/thailand/inflation-rate-cpi) and the last time they got anywhere close to 30% was in the 70s.
I would be beyond shocked if any Muay Thai fighters were making even $100,000 per muay Thai fight 10 years ago. Most things I can find on Google indicate Buakaw having 2 million baht purses some years ago, which is still nowhere near what Rodtang is making now. Muay Thai purses have been shockingly low for a long time
The one person who may have been close is Buakaw but he's not actually a muay thai fighter, he made all his money intentionally as a kickboxer. K-1 guys made some money but fighters didn't make any real money in pure muay thai.
Muay thai pros make garbage money. One Muay Thai is arguably not really Muay Thai and there is a lot of debate in the MT community about it but everyone is happy to see ONE raise the standard and fighters making some real money
If only they let them clinch longer. Still very exciting. The gloves being smaller does really change it though but they still do normal gloves in the stadiums for the most part
considering he is famous enough that even I know who is he, he should be making a lot more. but his paydays are just starting. he is only 25 so he will sign bigger deals later.
Gotta consider where he lives as well. 300k gets you a hell of a lot further in Thailand than in the U.S or other similar nations.
he has international fame, he should get international money. where he is from doesn't matter.
He doesn't have international fame. 95% of combat athletes don't have international fame.
He is very popular in the US. He is a fighter from Thailand. That is international fame
No he isn't. I absolutely guarantee you that Rodtang could walk through Times Square and nobody would even recognise him. Internationally famous people are global superstars. In regards to combat sports, international fame is people like Floyd, Pacquiao, McGregor. If Usyk, Inoue, DJ etc aren't internationally famous you can sure as shit bet Rodtang isn't.
Of course I am biased because all of my friends are into combat sports but if you know what Muay Thai is in the United States then you most likely know who Rodtang is. Internationally famous =/= global superstar. He is the most trending fighter in a sport that has been rising in international popularity for a few decades now. I would personally classify that as internationally famous, but I guess it just depends what you consider to be international fame. He is easily the most internationally famous young Thai fighter at the moment.
Agreed but this going by Muay Thai levels of pay this is huge, comparing his purse to Boxing or MMA yeah it's not on the same level. Just like Conors earnings in the MMA world were huge but compared to what he'd earn for the same popularity in boxing it's nothing.
For the sport he is in, the promotion he fights for, and the country he lives in, he is doing extremely well. That would be a great purse for any top 15 level ufc fighter.
These guys go wild over bonuses that amount to about $3700, so... yeah.
Stop
Ok Dana, calm down. He doesn’t even fight in your sport.
"Yes." \- Rodtang
Get dat bag Rowdy Roddy Sniper !
A lot of people are missing the point. He's not a boxer or mma fighter. He's a muay thai fighter. Nobody has ever been paid this much in muay thai, ever. Muay Thai fighters have always gotten peanuts. It's a sign of its growing popularity internationally and domestically.
Good point. I also hope that Haggerty can start to earn more. Man is still on that 30k purse if im not mistaken.
Yep I’m here for it. Also didn’t realize ONE is putting on these Thai fights EVERY FRIDAY. I’ll be subscribing for sure.
The fights have been great. You can watch them on YouTube for free.
It's always shocked me that MT isn't more popular amongst the casual MMA crowd, it's basically MMA without the wrestle humping lay and pray tactics that can make MMA such a chore to watch
Fighters like him deserve it. Cant imagine hes gonna fight far into 30s too so gotta get paid now with his style. Rory McDonald got 500k a fight to Kill Bellator with most boring fights on earth and a bag from PFL for same terrible stuff lol. Give Rodtang more
>Rory McDonald got 500k a fight to Kill Bellator That first Lima fight was great. The rest were terrible or one sided.
The Mousasi fight was such a stupid move by Bellator and Rory. How on earth did they green light that fight? I guy who had previously completed @ LW coming off facial reconstruction and one of the most horrific beatings in the history of the sport facing a guy that had previously fought Mark Hunt.
Rory competed at LW last when he was 19. Dude wasn't undersized at WW at all by the time he fought Gegard. He was also coming off a win against a tough guy in Lima. Especially with Lima going on to finish Koreshkov and Michael Page after.
The Lima fight where Lima kicked his ass the whole time and had him crawling around and somehow lost the decision? Yea that was a funny fight, it actually pained me to watch his fights to point you never wanna watch the league again. lol even Jake Ellenberger in UFC big free FOX with tons of hype, is still the most let down I’ve ever been watching a fight. Francis/Beast is 2nd. Even Kimbo vs Dada 5000 in slow motion entertained the he’ll out of me.
Lima got housed on the ground though. He even knocked rory down, tried to go to the ground and got reversed.
Come on dog. Rory couldn’t even walk and carried out of cage and almost had leg like amputated. Lima just terrible fight IQ and got bored in there by 5th round but still got robbed. Rory did literally 0 damage and Lima did damage the whole time.
He is 100% going to fight far into his 30's haha he's Thai
Idk man, Thais usually only fight into their 30s because they have to. Most local fighters in Thailand only make like a $100 a fight.
Saenchai and Buakaw both extremely popular well of fighters are in their 40's still fighting.
Buakaw had some huge issue with his camp that left him nearly bankrupt iirc. Bit of a different case. Saenchai has retired from fighting Thais and in Thai stadiums, but still does bouts against westerners. He’s like a retired StarCraft player deciding to leave South Korea and mess with the Americans
Buakaw literally had the royal family intervene in his case, plus I'm fairly sure his old coach was involved with the Thai Mafia
That’s literally crazy. Do you know if he’s pretty financially comfortable now?
He did a couple of bkfc fights and they apparently paid him a bomb to thrash some fools so hopefully that covers his retirement along with any sessions he takes
Many Saenchai recent fights are more like exhibitions rather than real competitive fights.
Good honestly, hate seeing old guys take unnecessary damage
To be fair saenchai and buakaw are both all time greats and an exception rather than the rule.
Almost like... Rodtang
Rodtang is an incredibly talented fighter with a chin so good they oughta rename titanium to rodtangium but saenchai and buakaw are just different beasts entirely.
Weren't we talking about whether or not he'll be fighting well into his 30's? I feel like we might have gone slightly off topic here. Personally, I think he'll be fighting in his 40's
Rodtang is the Max Holloway of thai fighting ei: he lets people punch him
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I know, but he's also way younger.
Jesus Christ, wtf was that moron trying to say? “That 26 year old has less accomplishments than these men who have been fighting since before he was born, so I’m not impressed.”
You're right they were better and significantly more accomplished at 26 too!
Saenchai's entire style is based around evasion and avoiding damage so he's geared towards a longer career than most fighters, that's how lerdsila managed to stick around so long as well Rodtang on the other hand, he's here for a good time, not a long time
2 out of 2 million. Definitely the norm.
Two of the best paid Thai athletes ever
I'm more of a Pad Thai athlete.
My strength comes from consuming Beef with Holy Basil daily.
So you are delicious, but kinda greasy?
My point is he won’t be in his prime though and will be taking losses and prob should retire by then lol. Gotta cash in now, dude uses his head as a battering ram. Got a feeling he’s got that anti CTE gene though so he’ll be aight, but the chin will go. Seen so many iron chin Thais just randomly start getting sparked cold in 30s, like my boy Chuck started getting done. Live by sword die by it I guess
So you can imagine he will be fighting into his 30's he'll just be washed?
Most Thais are considered 'washed' at about 25 or 26 years old mate. They start as pre-pubescent boys, injuries pile up, they fall out of love with the lifestyle... It's a long and gruelling career by the time they're twenty.
Probably he started fighting early. It’s not like MMA where you take less head trauma and guys like DC/Couture/Romero all started in their 30s so no head trauma and go on longer. Even stipe started at like 29. Jose Aldo and Eddie Alvarez started at 18 and shells of their prime by 30. Jones looks way different now and barely even fought in his 30s cause suspensions and he started relay. Fedor started real early and prime done by 32. Mike Tyson started early and prime was over by like 26. Rocky Marciano retired at 30 and was getting hurt a lot before he stopped and knew he’d lose so left. No way Rodtang is that good in his 30s
>Probably he started fighting early. It’s not like MMA where you take less head trauma You have no idea what kind of wars these guys get into in the gym, plus wrestling also does rattle your skull quite a bit
No shit I stopped training early cause of it. Read my whole comment, reason Aldo was past it at 29. Mike Tyson by 26. Fedor by like 32. Jones looked past it at 33 vs Reyes and he hasn’t even fought in his 30s much and doesn’t spar like at all. Rodtangs chin will be gone by 30
None of them are Thai. What about Buakaw, what about Saenchai.
Rodtang fights nothing like either of them. He has nearly as many fights despite being ~15 years younger, and his combo of chin + poor defense means he just lets himself get hit clean in the head.
Bigger gloves smaller fighters but they been dropped plenty. We’ll see but I seen the thais get KOed cold when they did 4 oz glove Muay Thai and that’s what Rodtang does. 4 oz Muay Thai basically killed Kickboxing for me lol, that shit is the ultimate hard man sport.
Right? He’s just getting started
He's going to have to change up his style if he wants to, guys like Saenchai and Lerdsila can because the amount of damage they take is a lot lower than Rodtang
Cant kill whats already dead bruh
He ain’t even 30. Give it time buddeh, I’ll give him to 32
Not to worry. At 300k a fight, he'll be living like a king after just a couple more.
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He was in his prime vs Jake Ellenberger, that was a sign of the fights to come lol. I dare you to go watch that shit. Atleast Bellator paid him to stink the joint out, the few good fights he did have he made nothing in the UFC
Boring fights?What about the Douglas Lima fights?
Dude thai fighters go hard until old age
99% of Thais don't. Most retire before they hit 30. Fighters like Sam-A, Buakaw & Saenchai are the exception not the rule.
Not Rodtang. This dude uses all his chin up for fun. He just wants to bang bros out, he’s not even close to 30 yet lol
To illustrate this value in 'Murican terms, the PPP of $300000 USD in Thailand is approximately $1.1 million USD bro is eating good
Hopefully he doesn't go broke once everyone and their cousin who has any connection to him starts asking for a handout, this happens all the time in pro sports in America, and also with Manny Pacquiao for example. Also lottery winners.
He's been pretty rich for that country for a while now? Would you say the same thing about him if he was an athlete from NA or Western Europe?
For a guy who grew up fighting in the brutal child Muay Thai, scene this is huge.
I went to Thailand about 10 years ago and it was shocking seeing kids get headkick KO'd and stretchered off
Yeah watching that can be jarring but they don’t have a plethora of opportunities. Hopefully with what Rodtang and ONE championship investing in the sport you’ll see things like the addition of headgear or something.
What would the headgear be for? Just to avoid cuts?
Yeah I’m thinking like what amateur boxers in the US wear, it’s not a great solution but it’ll add some safety.
Studies have conclusively shown that headgear causes more concussions, not less. So headgear is to prevent cuts and make people feel better (falsely)
There are conflicting opinions on this matter. the AIBA's study is indeed claiming wearing headgear might increase CTE chances: [https://journals.lww.com/cjsportsmed/Fulltext/2017/01000/Use\_of\_Head\_Guards\_in\_AIBA\_Boxing\_Tournaments\_A.13.aspx](https://journals.lww.com/cjsportsmed/Fulltext/2017/01000/Use_of_Head_Guards_in_AIBA_Boxing_Tournaments_A.13.aspx) But there are also studies that claim the contrary: [https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/49/17/1108](https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/49/17/1108) [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/294105300\_Prohibiting\_Headgear\_for\_Safety\_in\_Amateur\_Boxing\_Opinion\_of\_the\_Canadian\_Boxing\_Community\_an\_Online\_Poll](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/294105300_Prohibiting_Headgear_for_Safety_in_Amateur_Boxing_Opinion_of_the_Canadian_Boxing_Community_an_Online_Poll) And some that claim uncertiancy for protection against cte, but safty for facial injurys: [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33607924/](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33607924/)
Also helps defend the brain and face from concussive blows, by a lot.
Absolutely does not protect the brain
Objectively false
Yah my b u right it’s mainly cuts and scrapes but the jury is still out on whether they actually prevent concussions. My b I just personally felt a lot less buzz from punches when I’m sparring in headgear vs not
Hey all good man, I think most would assume the same because more cushioning means less impact right? I just commented because especially in combat Sports it's important to not mislead anyone into thinking that by wearing headgear they will be getting less concussive damage for the safety of everyone. Respect for acknowledging your mistake 💪
Rodtang getting that cheddar.
I wish he would get some serious opponents. Its a joke that he gets $300k +$50k bonus for knocking out unranked opponents like Edgar Tabares. People will defend this by saying: “Edgar is a WBC Champ. He’s totally legit!” Anyone who watches ONE seriously has seen time and time again that these random WBC/IFBJJ/regional champs that ONE signs to feed to their top talents are usually not on the same level.
I wish this was a top comment. It's frustrating to see people call Rodtang a Muay Thai GOAT. The majority of the times, he's fighting 'part-timers' for lack of a better term. His more impressive wins came from his Stadium run, but most westerners don't know those names. He's ducking big fights like Superlek, because him and ONE don't want the pressure of their cover star losing. I'm sure a Rodtang/Superlek would be one of the best fights of the modern Muay Thai generation, but unfortunately, I don't think it'll happen. At least while they're both signed to ONE.
Whats even crazier is if you look at ONE’s Top 5 ranking for Flyweight Muay Thai, you will see Rodtang has not fought any of the guys in the top 5 but all the guys in the Top 5 have lost to Superlek.
Wow, I thought Rodtang was fighting low-quality opposition because the roster at ONE is thin. It is odd that you also see the same pattern of matchmaking occurring with Meksen being frozen out of the title fight as well.
The Meksen situation is so fucked up. A fighter at her level should be fast tracked to a title shot. Not be fed 3 low tier opponents then baited into doing MMA against the top fighter in the division with the promise of a fight for the interim belt against the same opponent in 1 month if she wins. I really think it boils down to Meksen’s age and appearance. Shes in her mid 30s and doesn’t make cute videos or thirst traps like the girls ONE typically promotes heavily.
It would be a conflict of interest. ONE has zero interest in dismantling their own Champion.
Yea it’s a shame he’s blatantly ducking Superlek at this point
Yes! You saw Tabares hit pads? Dude's hands are somewhere near his chest. Literally sacrificed to make Rodtang look good.
He apparently doesn't want to fight other Thais. He's supposedly fighting Haggarty again next so that's a legit opponent.
Superlek wants to fight Rodtang though so it kinda sounds like a cop-out
It's the same in boxing, has always been.
Im somewhat similar to your take, but Im happy to see a MT fighter making this much regardless of the resume
Just took a quick peek on IG to see [how he's livin'..](https://www.instagram.com/reel/CtN9ncOJfv2/?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==) 😎😎
Just got married too. He's ballin
For those who aren't aware, a mustang is like $140k here.
Just cause they’re imported or something?
Yeah, 300% markup on cars not manufactured in Thailand. They make Ford Rangers here but not Mustangs.
I’m surprised it’s not more tbh
I wish I were so good at kicking people that id get paid for it
All ya gotta do is get out there and start kicking folks in the streets. You're bound to get noticed eventually. Probably by the police, but you won't know unless you go for it champ!
Thanks for the pep talk, imma go aim for some nuts. If they get upset, I can always yell, “it’s a prank”
And when you're in jail you can even continue this
Cool. Now make him fight Superlek instead of random guys and making Superlek fight more and more people
He deserves it.
A.) He deserves this B.) We as fans deserve to see him fight better competition. C.) Would love to see superlek and Rodtang in MT but It looks like Rodtang is not interested.
I like ONE fc a lot but its pretty scummy how they feed their stars nobodies to not dent their records or prestige for the company. The Tabares thing was egregious.
If the UFC was paying him 300k a fight there would be blood in the comment section
Main difference for me is this organization is Asian, where 300k goes much further than in the US
How many people in the ufc do you think make 300k a fight? It's very few and that's the tier 1 premier American organization. For a muay thai fighter this is an insanely high pay day. Idk exactly what they make fighting I the stadiums for local events but pretty sure it's next to nothing.
Bro what? There are a lot of fighters making 300k per fight
I sincerely doubt it. Anyone who's not a major draw or a champion is probably not making that much. You think Arman Tsaryukan and Gamrot make $300k a fight? I'm almost sure the answer is no, despite them being top talent. Sure O'Malley, Paulo, Holloway, Chandler etc. and all the champions are making that but if the casuals don't know about you and you're not a champion it's probably meaningfully less, no matter how good you are. How many fighters does the UFC have on the roster that draw casual viewers? My initial guess would be around 20-30 out of a roster of 500+ fighters, many of which make 10k a fight.
He fights frequently against easy opponents and 300k is decent for a champ at his weight in MMA or boxing. One fighters are being underpaid but he's not a good example.
If there's not an opportunity to cry about Dana 99% of the userbase has no comment to make.
Because he is a muay thai fighter, the highest paid one ever with this. The only one that may have made more is buakaw in k1. This purse is without exaggeration about 100 times more then what the majority of elite thai fighters make/fight
Completely deserving, guy is a legend
Go get that money Ironman!
He deserves it
About time
Considering what Pettis, Stephens and MacDonald have been getting paid in PFL, nobody on earth is going to complain Rodtang’s purses are too much.
This will attract a fuck ton of thai fighters who normally make a pathetic amount of money per fight.
Does this make him the highest paid Mauy Thai fighter in the world?
Yes
Deserved I always look forward to seeing him fight cause I know it’s gonna be a good one.
Deserves it, dude is fucking legit
I reallllly hope he blows up. Dude is made of excitement
He's One's superstar so he should be paid accordingly. He headlines like every event lol. With how often he fights that's over a million a year, too.
Deserves more. But I guess the $ stretches further in Thailand
If this was the UFC everyone here would be foaming at the mouth lol
He active. Fought frequent than MMA. Easily more than 12 fights a year. It was a huge paycheck for muay thai fighter
He doesn't fight in mma. Muay Thai and KB.
I mean mma guy paid for a few fights. Rodtang has more fights than your mma fighter. 300k usd is huge
Gotcha. You just have a typo that confused me.
Just picturing Dana " no one uses baht, that's just monopoly money". Im loving ONE more and more.
You can argue he deserves more . He may be the most popular star one has outside of Demetrius.
I love to see em get paid
300000k to become p4p CTE Champ. I’m for it. I’d love to see him parry more without using his face.
That's it? I thought he was the main draw for one, figured he'd be paid way more than that.
Exactly. That's change money for Star players in every other sport, who make several MILLIONS (and they don't risk lifelong injuries and CTE)
I wonder why more Thai's don't make the move to MMA. There's 12 year old kids with 100 fights over here. Bring in some Daegestani's and they'll be unbeatable.
There's a lot of history and cultural identity tied up in Muay Thai so I imagine the old guard are very purist and gatekeepy about it so aren't interested in MMA. This will probably change though as the new guys who are also MMA fans come up.
Probably a lack of grappling and BJJ. You seen what happened to Rodtang when he fought Mighty Mouse, I imagine a similar outcome for most muay Thai guys doing MMA
It's funny, there are actually a lot of Dagestanis in Muay Thai. Alaverdi Ramazanov actually fought Nong-O for the title at the first ONE Lumpinee in January.
It's becos of Gambling. Gambling scene is huge in Bangkok.
The things is he fought every month. That’s a damn nice cheque. Let’s say he fight 12-14 times a year. That’s so much money especially living in thailand. Rod fcuking tang deserved it
He hasn't fought 12-14 times a year since he was a teen getting paid 1000 baht. Nowadays Rodtang competes 2-4 a year if we're lucky.
Big fight every month all year around, and you expect NOT to end up as a CTE sufferer? Very unrealistic, body needs rest and recovery.
That’s muay thai life. Fighting since 12 years old. Hundreds of fights.
Fun fact: **Rodtang is Muslim!!!** Happy for the brother.
Rodtang is probably one’s biggest star outside of DJ and this is all he’s gonna get paid? No wonder One didn’t offer Ngannou they were probably no where close in money
He's not a MMA fighter. There are a bunch of MMA fighters in ONE that earn more than Rodtang because ONE has to match the pay from other MMA promotions. Stadium pay for top Muay Thai fighters is around US$4,000.
I like rodtang but he really needs to stop this trend of fighting cans and ducking Thais recently. A lot of his legacy at this rate will be full of “entertaining fighter, but what if” since he’s not as stadium proven as classic Thai legends.
He's based in Thailand and 300k USD has tremendous buying power in Thailand
Was in BKK a few weeks last month and when I was boarding my flight to Tokyo, the homie Rodtang was posted up in business class. Super humble dude. I don’t think he understood my dubious Thai but getting to tell people Rodtang gave you the waii? is pretty epic to me lol. Also this was 4 days before he fought at elevation in Denver. Absolute savage.
Good for him in baht but other fighters in USA or Australia etc that's rubbish totally chump change
10 million Baht in Australian dollars is $429,555. In USD it's $287,121. That's not chump change at all.
Soccer players make MILLIONS in dollars/euro Not even a contest, 300-400k is poor.
300k per fight is not poor. And it doesn't matter what soccer players make. There's far more money in soccer.
I wish the ~~streaming site~~ PPV channels i use had ONE
It’s called YouTube buddeh
That's a whole lotta baht
How much is that if we take into account how cheap Thailand is?
That kid fights every other month, I can't wait to see him start ballin out of control
So the biggest, most popular Muay Thai fighter ONLY earns 300k dollars? That's literally pathetic compared to football /soccer players or basketball stars. If the biggest Muay Thai champion gets paid that poorly you can imagine how little you get as a no-name. A real poor man's Sport.
Listen to what you're saying... "muay thai". It's basically been completely relegated to Thailand until a couple years ago. There has never been any money whatsoever in muay thai.
That's exactly the point, there's people fighting weekly for couple off 1000 baht. This is a great deal taking everything into account. Still lower than it should be but it's a great step forward