And they were treated to a memorable spectacle, with a half-capacity crowd putting two years of pandemic restrictions in the city state behind them and going crazy in the stands, while two legends of their own sports mixed them up in a deliberately-designed circus atmosphere.

“Yeah, it was fun to experience that. It’s the first time I’ve had an opponent just cross the distance like that, and that’s what we trained for,” Johnson said of a frantic first round which played out under Muay Thai rules.

“We did a bit of both, because usually Muay Thai athletes start slower and have that rhythm and then they slowly build up. You look at Nong-O [Gaiyanghadao] when he fought today. He built up, then finally got that knockout [over Felipe Lobo].

“But we knew Rodtang wanted to get the fight done in the first round, because I would be able to use my full skill set in the second round.

“In the very beginning, I went in and I clinched him and [referee] Olivier Coste was like ‘no, you can’t do that’. In MMA, if someone wants to cross distance like that, it’s just like go over and take them down. Then the fight would have been over in the first round. If it was first round MMA we wouldn’t have had that exciting first round.”

ONE X: Angela Lee weathers early adversity to choke Stamp

Almost every spectator inside Singapore Indoor Stadium seemed to be looking to the clock in the final minute of the first round, desperate to see how the MMA portion of the fight would shake out, with the rules switching over to a set which heavily favoured Johnson in the second round.

“I wasn’t aware until the last 30 seconds [of the first round] because my teammates where like, ‘You took his best shot! That’s all he’s got!’ And then when I came back they said, ‘That’s it. It’s your round, this is you’. So I wasn’t looking at the clock.

“That’s what I hate seeing people do when we’re training. Yes, when you’re fighting, but when you’re sparring or training … yes, it’s hell and it sucks but you should enjoy every moment because you’re leaning. If you’re looking at the clock and you can’t wait until it’s over then you’re not there mentally and physically.”

Johnson ultimately did what was expected of him in the second round, but he took his time getting there – and admitted another famous special rules fight, involving a man with whom he shared Saturday’s card, was playing on his mind.

Japanese legend Aoki, who suffered a shock defeat by Yoshihiro “Sexyama” Akiyama at ONE X, was famously finished just seconds into the MMA round against K-1’s “Cosplay King” Yuichiro Nagashima at Dynamite!! 2010, having wasted time throughout the opening kick-boxing round.

“I knew he [Rodtang] was gonna close the distance,” Johnson said. “A lot of people say, ‘Oh, he doesn’t have the footwork’. Rodtang is one of the best in the world at stand-up, and it doesn’t take long – just move your feet a little bit. Granted, he can’t fight going backwards, he’s used to going forward.

ONE X: ‘Sexyama’ stops Aoki for epic comeback

“And so I didn’t want to make a mistake trying to shoot across like Shinya Aoki did 10 years ago in his fight, because if Shinya would’ve taken his time and got his hands on the gentleman, he probably would’ve submitted the guy like I did Rodtang.

“So for me, I was taking my time and we actually trained that. My coach was like, ‘He doesn’t have to do anything because in MMA you can run all the time’. I was like, ‘That’s fine, I’ll get there eventually’, and when I got there I was able to secure the submission and get my hand raised.”

Johnson’s victory wasn’t without any hiccups, and he took some big shots in the opening round.

“I got rocked a couple of times, but I’ve been rocked before,” he said. “I think him and [John] Dodson hit the hardest.”

Once the rules changed over, a wary Johnson realised Rodtang was trying to set up a trap – much like all of his opponents have in Asian martial arts promotion ONE Championship, where he has gone 3-1 in MMA at flyweight.

“They know I’m gonna come forward. When I fought Yuya Wakamatsu, he was looking to counter me,” Johnson said. “When I fought Adriano [Moraes], he countered me with the uppercut. Tatsumitsu Wada – everybody waits for me to cross distance because I’m the shorter fighter.

“So I knew if the second round happened he was running, that’s why I just kind of stopped and chilled. My corner was like, ‘He’s running!’ I was like, ‘Yeah, he’s running, which is fine, right?’

“The biggest thing I’m happy about, which I can take away from this fight, is that I had 3 minutes, and when I got his back I was very aggressive. I rarely go for the kill, I’m just chilling, relaxing, because I have 5 minutes, 15 minutes.

“This one I was like, ‘You got three minutes, you gotta get it done or you gotta go to another round of Muay Thai and he has a chance to knock you out’.”