Jacob Smith vowed to return for the ONE Championship flyweight Muay Thai title after admitting an elbow from Rodtang Jitmuangnon “changed the fight”.
Rodtang put in a dominant display to hand the 32-year-old Englishman a unanimous decision loss at ONE 169 in Bangkok on November 9.
Smith had vowed to shock the world and claim the vacant ONE flyweight Muay Thai title after Rodtang missed weight earlier in fight week, but was left ruining what might have been.
“I’ll be back for the belt 100 percent,” Smith told the Bangkok Post. “It didn’t go the way I wanted it to go, but sometimes you just have to give credit where credit is due.”
Smith was also left nursing a horrendous cut above his right eye, which almost saw the fight called off at Lumpinee Stadium.
“Rodtang fought a smart fight, and the elbow in round three completely changed the fight,” he added.
“From that point on, it was so hard to engage and do what I needed to do, because the referee and the cutman in-between rounds were telling me, ‘You have to protect that eye, otherwise the fight is going to stop’.
“That, alongside knowing that if I did step in to punch, then Rodtang was waiting for me so he could elbow me again.”
Smith, who tumbled out of the top five rankings after his loss, also revealed he suffered a hand injury in the second round, which further compromised his game plan.
“It’s just one of those things,” Smith said. “I knew what I needed to do but at the same time it’s hard to take risks.
“The cut on my eye was hard for me to fight the way I needed to and protect at the same time, as well as knowing Rodtang is waiting to bait you in, to step in to punch when he’s looking to elbow.”
