Coming into ONE Fight Night 16 at the iconic Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, Jonathan Haggerty was well aware of the stakes in the main event.
After shocking the world by stopping Nong-O Hama to become the ONE bantamweight Muay Thai world champion earlier this year, the Brit returned to the very same scene earlier this month to produce another moment of brilliance.
This time around, he faced fellow titleholder Fabricio Andrade in a champion vs. champion clash for the vacant ONE bantamweight kickboxing world championship.
With two-sport championship status on the line for both men, it doesn’t get much bigger than this. And if there’s one thing that has defined Haggerty’s run in ONE Championship, it’s that he rises to the occasion.
Stopping ‘Wonder Boy’ in the second round, ‘The General’ celebrated his history-making moment by writing his name into the exclusive club of two-sport divisional kingpins.
However, he was well aware that the time for reaping the rewards of his success would be short lived.
With two titles in two different sports comes double the amount of challengers that have now got their sights on taking Haggerty’s success away from him.
The Brit knew what he was signing up for though and he is motivated to defend both titles, proving himself to be the best guy in both divisions before potentially adding a third title to his shoulders.
In an interview with Sports Illustrated, Jonathan Haggerty made it perfectly clear that he will be a defending champion and welcomes whoever thinks they deserve what is rightfully his:
“Everyone is on me, but I take all that as a compliment. I hope they’re careful what they wish for. I’m going to take them out one by one.”
North American viewers with an active Amazon Prime Video subscription can rewatch all the action from ONE Fight Night 16 via the free event replay.