ONE Championship: “It's not like he's old and pushed over” - Freddie Haggerty says legend Sam-A still has a lot of fight in him

Rising ONE Championship Muay Thai prospect Freddie Haggerty of the United Kingdom believes he may have found his next opponent, as he guns for Thai legend Sam-A Gaiyanghadao.

Sam-A has experienced a recent career resurgence, winning two of his last three matches in the world's largest martial arts organization, while showcasing renewed strength and vigor.

The young Haggerty has flirted with the idea of facing the Thai icon and has only had nice words to say about Sam-A, particularly the veteran's latest performances against Jonathan Di Bella and Akram Hamidi.

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Haggerty told South China Morning Post in a recent interview:

"He had a great fight with Di Bella. It was so close. It was a great fight. What he done to Akram Hamidi was unbelievable. Just knocked him out like that. So it's not like he's old and pushed over."

Sam-A Gaiyanghadao defeated Hamidi via first-round knockout, before running through Chinese star Zhang Peimian to win by decision late last year. Triple aces came back last March and lost a close decision to Di Bella, just barely missing out on capturing the interim strawweight kickboxing gold.

Freddie Haggerty believes he can beat Thai legend Sam-A Gaiyanghadao: "I can compete with the best"

Freddie Haggerty has discussed the idea of potentially facing Thai legend Sam-A Gaiyanghadao with his older brother, multi-time world champion 'The General' Jonathan Haggerty.

Freddie explained why he thinks Sam-A would be a good matchup for him. He told South China Morning Post:

"We've been talking about it for ages, Jon and I. I've been saying like, it'd be an honor to fight Sam-A. Not that I just want to go and fight him, just because Jon, it'd be an absolute honor to fight Sam-A, and the form he's been on at the minute to beat him while he's in that form would be amazing for me, because it shows I'm on that level, I can compete with the best."

Stay tuned to Sportskeeda MMA for all the latest news and updates surrounding Freddie Haggerty's next fight.

About the author

Dan is an MMA writer with 10+ years of overall experience. Before his ongoing tenure at Sportskeeda, Dan got the opportunity to be at the forefront of the sport by contributing to ONE Championship and Fight Game Asia. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology.

Dan’s connection to MMA started during the early days of the UFC and ONE Championship. He previously practiced boxing and ranks Demetrious Johnson, Anderson Silva, Georges St-Pierre, Jon Jones, and Fedor Emelianenko as the top five MMA fighters of all time.

He has covered several events onsite and on the ground for ONE Championship and hopes to continue doing so. He ensures that he churns out accurate articles by citing only legitimate sources and getting firsthand accounts through exclusive interviews whenever required.

Dan feels MMA fighter pay seems like an issue because it often gets compared to what fighters earn in boxing but that MMA will eventually catch up in the future.

His other interests include soccer and video games.

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Edited by C. Nayak