WATCH: The nail-biting first brawl between old rivals Rodtang and Jonathan Haggerty for the flyweight Muay Thai throne in Manila

Looking back on the earnest beginnings of iconic rivalries always has fans yearning to see them fight it out again, and in ONE Championship history, few encounters brought as much excitement as when Rodtang Jitmuangnon fought Jonathan Haggerty the first time around.

Rodtang was entering the August 2019 bout on the back of four straight monstrous victories, with his TKO of Sok Thy allowing him to challenge Haggerty for the ONE flyweight Muay Thai world championship.

On the other side of the fence was 'The General', who won his first two fights under the promotion. The second was a unanimous decision to take the world championship from the legendary Sam-A Gaiyanghadao.

With two high-level prospects set to duke it out in front of a raucous crowd inside the Mall of Asia Arena in Manila, Rodtang and Haggerty quickly pulled their respective triggers.

'The Iron Man' and the Englishman had their shining moments in the five-round war of attrition and once the final bell rang, Rodtang left with his hand raised via unanimous decision.

Relive the thrilling world title fight below:

---

Rodtang, Jonathan Haggerty pining for a trilogy bout

Their long-awaited rematch in January 2020 ended up with a Rodtang TKO win over Haggerty. The two stars went their separate ways, with Haggerty moving up to bantamweight, claiming the division's Muay Thai and kickboxing gold.

Following his electric defense of the latter world championship against Felipe Lobo, Haggerty, and Rodtang immediately got into it on social media, calling each other out for a third bout.

With their first two matchups happening in Rodtang's flyweight kingdom, there is a chance that the Thai star could move up and challenge Haggerty for the bantamweight Muay Thai world championship instead.