ONE Championship Set to Sue Rodtang Amid Shock Contract Dispute
ONE Championship has announced it is taking legal action against Rodtang Jitmuangnon in three countries, citing multiple breaches of his contractual obligations with the promotion. The move comes less than two weeks before Rodtang is scheduled to headline ONE Samurai 1 against Takeru Segawa on April 29, 2026, in Tokyo.
In an official statement posted across ONE Championship’s social media platforms, the promotion confirmed it has initiated legal proceedings in Singapore, Japan, and Thailand. The organisation cited “multiple breaches of contractual obligations,” as well as the “dissemination of potentially misleading information and statements that may be considered defamatory” as the grounds for action.
ONE said it had made “continuous and sincere efforts to work with Rodtang in good faith” before reaching this point, but that repeated disregard for contractual obligations left them with no choice. The promotion added that it intends to seek “appropriate damages in the relevant jurisdictions” and will not be commenting further on the specifics of the legal proceedings while the investigation remains ongoing.
How It Got Here
The situation has been building for months. In November 2025, Rodtang pulled out of a scheduled Flyweight Muay Thai World Title fight against Nong-O Hama at ONE 173 in Tokyo after informing medical staff he was unwell following weigh-ins. The fight never took place, and Nong-O had also failed to make weight, compounding an already messy situation for the promotion.
Things escalated further in February 2026 when Rodtang posted cryptic messages on social media hinting at career-related frustrations. He then filed a defamation complaint at Thailand’s Central Investigation Bureau on February 19, targeting online users he accused of making abusive comments about his family. While separate from his issues with ONE, it underscored a period of unusual public activity from the fighter.
The contract dispute came into full view in March 2026. On March 25-26, Rodtang went public on Facebook confirming that his deal with ONE Championship had officially ended and that he was reviewing the terms of a new offer. ONE Championship sources, however, told the Bangkok Post that Rodtang remained under contract with the promotion despite his public claims to the contrary.
Then, in early April 2026, Rodtang took things further by publishing a detailed Facebook post alleging that someone had forged his signature on more than 30 contracts. He alleged that when his lawyer confronted the individual involved, the man admitted to signing the additional contracts himself. It is this chain of events, the public contract expiry claims, the forged signature allegations, and related social media posts, that appears to form the basis of ONE’s complaint about misleading statements and potential defamation.
The Fight Is Still On
Despite the legal action, Rodtang’s scheduled rematch with Takeru Segawa remains on the card for ONE Samurai 1 on April 29 at Ariake Arena in Tokyo, with the ONE Interim Flyweight Kickboxing World Title on the line. Rodtang himself had confirmed the Takeru fight would be a “special bout outside of his contract terms” a framing that ONE’s legal action now directly challenges.
The two fighters first met at ONE 172 in March 2025 at Saitama Super Arena, where Rodtang stopped Takeru with a left hook at 1:20 of the first round to win the kickboxing superfight by knockout. Takeru called for the rematch immediately, requesting Rodtang as the opponent for what he described as his final professional fight. The bout was formally announced in February 2026 and confirmed for April 29.
Whether that fight goes ahead as planned now sits in an uncertain space. ONE has not indicated any intention to pull the bout from the card, and Rodtang confirmed as recently as late March 2026 that he is “fully prepared” to compete. ONE says the legal process is ongoing and will not comment further. No details have been released on how proceedings in three separate jurisdictions, Singapore, Japan, and Thailand, will interact, or what timeline the promotion is working toward.
