Reigning ONE bantamweight muay thai champion Jonathan
Haggerty has finally achieved one of his primary goals as a
combat sports athlete with his latest outing against mixed martial
arts champion Fabricio
Andrade.
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Haggerty (20-4) impressively secured the vacant bantamweight
kickboxing title via Round 2 knockout in a champion vs. champion
main event clash against Andrade (29-1) at ONE on Prime Video 16
and is now a two-sport world champion.
While most fans expected the fight to be a back-and-forth affair,
things seemed quite different inside the ring. Interestingly, as
per Haggerty’s post-fight comments, the Englishman isn’t shocked by
the outcome of the bout.
“I wasn’t surprised at all,” he said. “I was going in for the
knockout. I was saying all week that he’d be getting knocked out. I
feel like he knew himself that he was going to be stopped and beat
but he was just putting up a front and showing face which is what
you have to do as a fighter. You can’t show that you’re scared, you
can’t show any weaknesses but tonight was my night and he shouldn’t
have been in there with me.”
Discussing his opponent’s skills inside the ring, Haggerty gave the
MMA champion props for stepping up for the opportunity.
Nevertheless, the English striking phenom is of the opinion that
Andrade is not “on the same level” as him.
“He’s a great striker, he’s shown it in his MMA fights, he’s a
great champion, there’s respect there,” Haggerty said. “Anyone that
steps in that ring is always respected, but I knew his striking
wasn’t on my level. I’ll say it time and time again. He went for
greatness, he tried for greatness, and you can’t knock him for
that. I’ve said it before: I was going to drag him into deep waters
and just prove to him that he’s not on the same level as me when it
comes to striking.”
For now, the Englishman plans to go back to muay thai and defend
his belt against Nong-O in a rematch.
“I need to defend my muay thai belt first,” Haggerty said. “That is
always first on my list ,but then obviously the kickboxing title
came up and I loved the challenge, so I took it. I want to defend
my muay thai belt now because I’ve said it before and I’ll say it
again, you’re not a champion until you’ve defended your belt so
let’s defend this muay thai belt and get this show on the
road.”
Moreover, he’s also expressed a serious interest in competing for
Andrade’s MMA title down the line. In fact, the Englishman has
seemingly agreed to train with the Ruotolo brothers for his
eventual MMA debut. That’s a partnership that could see both
parties become well-rounded mixed martial artists.
“I got a video on my phone shaking his [Tye
Ruotolo’s] hand and agreeing to train with them [the Ruotolo
brothers] when I make my MMA debut so that’s already locked in.
We’re already aiming for the stars so be careful MMA division. Be
careful Andrade, I’m coming for your belt.”