“I never actually thought it would happen” – Jonathan Haggerty on becoming a two-sport world champion

Jonathan Haggerty’s rise to become a two-sport world champion has been meteoric. Even the Brit striking dynamo has to give himself a pat on the back to ensure he is not living in a dream.

After debuting in the bantamweight ranks with a strong performance over Vladimir Kuzmin at ONE on Prime Video 4 in November 2022, the English star earned himself a shot at Nong-O Hama’s bantamweight Muay Thai crown in April this year.

He not only passed that assignment with flying colors, but he became the first man to hand the Thai icon a defeat under the ONE banner.

Then, at ONE Fight Night 16, ‘The General’ left another opponent flat on the canvas, Brazilian slugger Fabricio Andrade, to claim his second gold in the promotion.

Looking back at the night he became a two-sport world champion, the Englishman admits he is still in disbelief that he had the opportunity at two-sport supremacy.

Jonathan Haggerty told Daily Star:

"Fighting Fabricio Andrade was on my mind, but I never actually thought it would happen. But with ONE Championship, they put these super-fights together, and they make it happen, and I'm glad I got the opportunity."

The Londoner was forced to move up to the bantamweight ranks due to a couple of medical issues every time he tried to hit the 135-pound limit of the flyweight division.

Though it wasn’t an easy decision for ‘The General,’ the restart proved to be one of the sweetest turning points of his career.

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Relive Jonathan Haggerty’s crushing win over Andrade

Jonathan Haggerty dished out an incredible display of striking to best Andrade on his way to claiming the vacant ONE bantamweight kickboxing world title in the main event of ONE Fight Night 16 earlier this month.

The 26-year-old came out of his corner looking to close the show inside the Lumpinee Boxing Stadium just as he finished Nong-O months earlier. And it took him just under five minutes in total to achieve his goal.

Roughly one minute into the second frame, the bantamweight Muay Thai king wobbled Andrade with a left high kick, and unloaded with punch after punch right until his dream became reality.

North American fans with an active Amazon Prime Video subscription can watch all the action from ONE Fight Night 16 via replay for free.