"Will we see Rodtang vs. Haggerty III?" - ONE Championship ponders how the flyweight grand prix plays out ahead of ONE 157

The ONE Flyweight Muay Thai World Grand Prix will kick off at ONE 157: Petchmorakot vs. Vienot on Friday, May 20, and ONE Championship is already wondering how the finals will play out.

On Twitter, ONE Championship shared a clip of Jonathan Haggerty and Rodtang Jitmuangnon’s battle inside the circle to remind everyone how epic their matchup could be. The caption reads:

“Will we see Rodtang vs. Haggerty III? 👀”

The top two flyweights in the promotion have met each other twice before, and could potentially cross paths in the tournament if they advance.

In August 2019, Rodtang was on a hot streak of four wins since his promotional debut and found himself in a battle for the ONE flyweight Muay Thai world title. Defending the belt was the newly-crowned Haggerty, who defeated the legendary Sam-A Gaiyanghadao for the title just three months prior.

After five rounds, the Thai Superstar was declared the victor via unanimous decision. Rodtang later defended the belt against fellow Grand Prix competitor Walter Goncalves, escaping with a split decision win before facing ‘The General’ again in 2020.

Their second encounter proved much shorter, with Haggerty falling via TKO after getting knocked down three times in the third round.

The British striker has since proven that he’s still the top challenger for the world title. He dominated both Taiki Naito and erstwhile No.4-ranked Monkolpetch Petchyindee in his next two outings to keep his place as the no.1 contender in the division.

ONE Championship releases tournament brackets

ONE Championship released the brackets for the ONE Flyweight Muay Thai World Grand Prix, showing that the potential Rodtang vs. Haggerty III could happen in the final round of the tournament.

In the quarterfinals, Haggerty must get past Walter Goncalves to advance and defeat the winner of Superlek vs. Taiki Naito to make that happen. Meanwhile, Rodtang must first defeat Jacob Smith and emerge victorious against the winner of Savvas Michael vs. Amir Naseri.

The winner of the tournament will earn the right to challenge for the world title. As such, Haggerty could set up two matches with Rodtang if he keeps winning and potentially deny Rodtang his place in ONE Championship history as the first world title holder to win a World Grand Prix.