“I chose to get punched in the face” – Jonathan Haggerty looks back on decision to pick Muay Thai over football

Ahead of his return at ONE Fight Night 16, Jonathan Haggerty revealed that becoming a martial artist wasn’t the original path that he was going down in his earlier life.

As he goes on to state, the decision to change the course and pursue the striking arts was clearly the correct decision after all the success he has accomplished.

A two-time Muay Thai world champion under the ONE Championship banner, ‘The General’ is set to return on Friday, November 3, to try and write his name into the history books.

On his return to the iconic Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, he will face fellow titleholder Fabricio Andrade in a clash of champions with the vacant ONE bantamweight kickboxing world championship on the line for the victor.

World titles and unmissable match-ups wasn’t Haggerty’s first pursuit in life and growing up in England, though. Like most kids around him, football took early priority.

In an interview with FirstSportz MMA, the Brit revealed that eventually he came to a crossroads in life where he was forced to make a decision between his two passions.

This one decision went on to inform his whole life and career, having accomplished incredible achievements as one of the best competitors in Muay Thai today.

As Jonathan Haggerty himself phrases it, he chose fighting other men under the brightest lights and fortunately, he chose correctly:

“I grew up originally playing football. I enjoyed football, but, unfortunately, you can't do both sports. I knew that growing up I needed to choose one and I don't know why, but I chose to get punched in the face for a living, but it is paying off now.”

Watch the full interview below:

ONE Fight Night 16 Haggerty vs Andrade will air live and free in U.S. primetime for North American viewers with an active Amazon Prime Video subscription.