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English fighter Jonathan Haggerty looks to dethrone long-time ONE Bantamweight Muay Thai World Champion Nong-O Hama in their title clash set for April 21 in Singapore. The title bout is one of the featured matchups for ONE Fight Night 9 on Prime Video.
Jonathan Haggerty, the former flyweight Muay Thai king, will try to claim another gold in the sport, but this time in a different division.
He has packed a lot of momentum of late, winning three straight fights in ONE, the most recent a majority decision victory over Russian Vladimir Kuzmin in a catchweight Muay Thai clash at ONE on Prime Video 4 in November last year.
Nong-O, for his part, has been champion since 2019 and has successfully defended his bantamweight title seven times.
The Thai champion was in action last month for the inaugural ONE Friday Fights in Thailand, defeating Russian challenger Alaverdi Ramazanov by knockout in the third round.
The rest of the card for ONE Fight Night 9 has yet to be filled, but the event will be aired live and for free to all Prime Video subscribers in North America.
Jonathan Haggerty will carry knockout power at bantamweight
As he transitions to fighting in the bantamweight division, English Muay Thai fighter Jonathan Haggerty believes competing in a bigger body frame will only enhance his knockout power.
Jonathan Haggerty will vie for the ONE bantamweight Muay Thai world title against reigning champion Nong-O Hama in April at ONE Fight Night 9.
It will mark the second time that he is competing in a higher weight division after spending time, and ruling at one point, the promotion’s flyweight Muay Thai weight class.
Jonathan Haggerty took on bantamweight fighter Vladimir Kuzmin of Russia in a catchweight encounter in November last year where he won by majority decision.
Speaking to ONE Championship, Haggerty shared how at this point in his career, shifting to bantamweight makes a lot of sense.
He said:
“I know stepping up a division, it’s going to be harder to put them away. But I’ve got a saying: In the flyweight division, I was struggling to keep them on the canvas. But now that I’m in the bantamweight division and I’m bigger, they’re going to stay down and they’re not going to get back up.”
Against Kuzmin last time around, Haggerty had his struggles in his offense early but as the fight wore on he got his groove and started landing solid combinations.
Entering the third and final round, the two were seemingly tied on the scorecards and upped the ante further with intense exchanges. In the end, however, Haggerty did just enough to edge out his opponent for the hard-earned victory.
