"Made my eyes swell up" - Jonathan Haggerty admits Vladimir Kuzmin gave him a rude awakening in the 'big boy' division
Jonathan Haggerty arrived in ONE Championship as a flyweight Muay Thai contender with a lot of promise.
His debut win over Joseph Lasiri set him up for big things but there was just one issue with his time in this weight class.
Despite holding big wins and becoming a world champion, flyweight was only ever going to last so long for 'The General' before a change was needed.
He eventually made the decision in 2022 to move up to bantamweight where he would be welcomed by Vladimir Kuzmin.
The two men met for the first time at ONE on Prime Video 4 where the Brit was able to get his hand raised via a narrow majority decision.
In a recent YouTube video on his channel, Haggerty told a story about how the first strike he received up at his new weight class was a sudden shock to the system:
"I remember when the bell went, as soon as we touched gloves, he caught me with a head kick, and it made my eyes swell up. I thought, well, wow, now we're in the big boy division. So training there was more strength and conditioning added."
Watch the full interview below:
Jonathan Haggerty hits like a true bantamweight now
As Jonathan Haggerty remarked above, the key change he needed to make after the close win against Vladimir Kuzmin was putting more work on his body in order to become a true bantamweight.
Since doing that, he has won three consecutive fights all with finishes and has looked physically better than ever.
His speed and power have never been so dangerous and this settling-in process could be vital for him in his next fight.
In the main event of ONE 168, his bantamweight Muay Thai world championship will be on the line against Superlek who will be making the jump from flyweight for this bout.
Tickets for ONE 168: Denver are available via Ticketmaster.