Fully recovered Jonathan Haggerty to face Amir Naseri at ONE 161 in tournament alternate

Former ONE flyweight Muay Thai world champion ‘The General’ Jonathan Haggerty will finally make his much anticipated return to the Circle.

The 25-year-old has teased his impending comeback for weeks on social media. Now, the Englishman is a mere month away from stepping back into the limelight.

Jonathan Haggerty is set to face Iranian-Malaysian star Amir Naseri in a ONE Flyweight Muay Thai World Grand Prix alternate bout at ONE 161. The event will be broadcast live from the Singapore Indoor Stadium on Friday, August 26th on US prime time via Amazon Prime Video.

The winner will be entered into the prestigious tournament as an official replacement, should any of the current participants fall out of the competition.

‘The General’ was one of the original eight combatants when the tournament was announced earlier this year. An undisclosed medical issue just days before his bout at ONE 157 sent Haggerty to the hospital, and he was pulled from the card.

It seems now that Haggerty is back to full health and ready to go.

Naseri, on the other hand, dropped a unanimous decision loss to Cyprus’ Savvas Michael in the quarterfinal round of the Grand Prix. The defeat booted Naseri out of the tournament, but he will get another chance against Haggerty.

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Jonathan Haggerty lobbying for rematch with Rodtang Jitmuangnon

Jonathan Haggerty shocked the world when he upset Muay Thai legend Sam-A Gaiyanghadao in 2019 to capture the ONE flyweight Muay Thai world title. His performance was so impressive, ONE Championship Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong called him “the future of Muay Thai.”

After his world title-winning performance, however, Jonathan Haggerty ran into Muay Thai phenom Rodtang ‘The Iron Man’ Jitmuangnon, losing his belt to the Thai superstar via unanimous decision.

Given the closely contested nature of their first encounter, an immediate rematch was ordered. This time, Rodtang made an emphatic statement, finishing Haggerty in the third round after knocking the Englishman down three times en route to an automatic TKO victory.

Since that defeat, there has been nothing on Haggerty’s mind other than to somehow get Rodtang back in the Circle with him. The ONE Flyweight Muay Thai World Grand Prix could just be his ticket.

If he is unfortunately unable to run it back with Rodtang in Muay Thai, Haggerty has expressed interest in transitioning to the sport of mixed martial arts in the near future. Having grown up training with MMA fighters in his father’s MMA gym, Haggerty is familiar with the sport.

An MMA bout against Rodtang would do astronomical viewership numbers.