"Come back stronger" - UFC star Michael Venom Page rooting for his fellow Brit Jonathan Haggerty to reclaim lost throne
Former ONE bantamweight Muay Thai world champion Jonathan Haggerty was gracious of his defeat at the hands of rival Superlek Kiatmoo9 in the headliner of ONE 168: Denver last weekend at the Ball Arena in Colorado.
He showed his class in an Instagram post that he published following the event. In it, he acknowledged that it wasn't his night and congratulated Superlek. Furthermore, he vowed to come back stronger.
'The General' captioned his heartfelt post with:
"Last night didn't go our way, but that's the fight game. I thought I had Superlek hurt and rushed in, but he caught me with a beautiful elbow. Credit to him on a well-earned victory. Congratulations to Superlek, and thank you to all the incredible fans and everyone at ONE Championship for the love and support. This is just a part of the journey, and I promise I'll be back stronger and hungrier than ever. We rise, we learn, and we keep fighting. See you soon!"
Fans and fellow fighters have shown their support for the still reigning ONE bantamweight kickboxing world champion despite the setback that snapped his six-fight win streak.
But one particular fighter's message stood out in the comments section of his post, as No. 12-ranked UFC welterweight contender Michael Venom Page, who is a fellow British, showed massive faith and support for Haggerty, as he commented:
"We dust it off and come back stronger 💪🏾"
Jonathan Haggerty says that he will closely monitor the upcoming fight between Hiroki Akimoto and Elilas Ennahachi at ONE Friday Fights 81
Despite losing one of his 26-pound golden belts, Haggerty remains the undisputed king of the bantamweight kickboxing division, and he says that he will be closely watching the all-important match between the former divisional king Hiroki Akimoto and former ONE flyweight kickboxing world champion Elias Ennahachi.
The Keddles Gym, Team Underground, and Knowlesy Academy-affiliated athlete revealed this during his most recent interview with the South China Morning Post, where he said:
"Yeah, that's a great fight, very exciting fight, both in title contentions. Yeah, I'll be watching that very closely. So yeah, that'd be a great fight, a great match-up. I'm excited to see Ilias' comeback fight at bantamweight now. I feel like Ennahachi wins."
North American viewers with an active Prime Video subscription can rewatch all the action from ONE 168: Denver via the free event replay.