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It didn’t take long for highly acclaimed striking coach Christian Knowles to realize Jonathan Haggerty’s destiny. Knowles is regarded as one of the finest Muay Thai and kickboxing minds in Great Britain, and he knew early on that Haggerty was cut from a different cloth.
In an interview with Wesley Gunham Graham, Knowles recalled how Haggerty’s father, Jon, brought the future champ-champ into Knowlesy Academy. Knowles realized he was teaching a future megastar during their first training session together.
He said:
“So I think we worked it out the other day, we’ve been training for 10 years coming up to 11 years. It started through his dad, his dad…we were at a show one day and I got on really well with his dad and his dad said, ‘You know what, I want to bring John up to you. And I said ‘Yeah, bring John up to me.’ And the first session I was like, ‘Wow, this kid’s special.’”
More than a decade on, Knowles is still the guiding voice behind Jonathan Haggerty’s success.
The partnership brought unprecedented success to Haggerty as he captured the ONE flyweight Muay Thai world title in 2019 and the ONE bantamweight Muay Thai and kickboxing world titles in 2023.
Watch Knowles' entire interview below:
MMA legend Demetrious Johnson calls Jonathan Haggerty’s chance for three-sport supremacy
Christian Knowles could be heading into another sport if his student does take the massive leap to MMA. Jonathan Haggerty has been adamant that taking the ONE bantamweight MMA world title and becoming a triple-champ is one of the biggest goals of his career.
The reigning ONE flyweight MMA world champion Demetrious Johnson recently reviewed Haggerty’s defense of the ONE bantamweight Muay Thai world title against Felipe Lobo at ONE Fight Night 19.
After sharing his thoughts on Haggerty’s win, Johnson confidently said that ‘The General’ could do the impossible and topple Fabricio Andrade off the bantamweight MMA throne.
Johnson said on his Mighty YouTube channel:
“Congrats to Jonathan Haggerty, absolutely amazing fight. And I think he could beat Fabricio Andrade in MMA because Fabricio is a stand-up artist.”
