Former two-sport king Jonathan Haggerty has his spirits back up after suffering a devastating knockout to Superlek Kiatmoo9 last month at ONE 168: Denver.
The 27-year-old superstar predicted he would take Superlek into deep waters and find that KO finish that had previously become his trademark. But instead of doing as he planned, Haggerty made a mistake that cost him his ONE bantamweight Muay Thai world title in less than one minute.
It’s been around 40 days since that fateful night in Colorado, and the feelings are still as fresh as if it happened yesterday. However, ‘The General’ prefers not to dwell too much on the past.
He’s just happy to be training again at his own pace, recovering both physically and mentally until he’s ready to get back into the game:
“No, it’s not as hard,” Haggerty told Sky Sports MMA Club. “I can take a break when I want to take a break. Hit the bag, sort of stuff like that, really. Just keeping myself busy as well, that’s the main thing. We’re not sitting down in the dumps.”
“If there’s a chance I would like to fight for it” – Superlek says he’s gunning for Jonathan Haggerty’s kickboxing belt next
Jonathan Haggerty has earned a small break from competition, but he shouldn’t get too comfortable since he’s got the ONE bantamweight kickboxing world title to defend.
Haggerty became an unprecedented two-sport world champion by the sheer sweat of his brow last November. He defeated ONE bantamweight MMA world champion Fabricio Andrade for the vacant throne with a stunning upset at ONE Fight Night 16 in Thailand.
However, he has yet to defend it, which brings Superlek Kiatmoo9 into the picture. The newly-crowned double-world champion hopes to get a crack at the kickboxing belt and become a historic three-belt holder after surpassing Haggerty in Denver.
Speaking to Nick Atkin, Superlek said:
“If there’s a chance, Jonathan Haggerty is the champion of kickboxing, if there’s a chance, I would like to fight for it.”
