"That was a good win for me" - Jonathan Haggerty recalls bounce-back victory over Taiki Naito after two setbacks with Rodtang

Jonathan Haggerty has proven himself to have the heart of a champion time and time again during his run in ONE Championship.

After winning the ONE flyweight Muay Thai world championship in a clash with the legendary Sam-A Gaiyanghadao, he came up against his greatest rival to date.

Back-to-back wars with Rodtang Jitmuangnon put both men in the history books but Haggerty failed to beat the Thai superstar on consecutive occasions.

Haggerty returned to the win column in his following fight with Taiki Naito in December of 2020.

'The General' reflected on the fight in a recent YouTube video where he spoke about dominating his opponent from bell to bell:

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"I didn't actually throw any elbows in this fight, which was surprising, so I was just finding myself. What style worked for me, I think I was a little but too dominant for him in this fight. I think he was intimidated as well. I wouldn't say easy, but that was a good win for me. So getting my hand raised here after the last two losses against Rodtang was like a bit of a relief. We're back on track now, and let's build on it. And let's keep the momentum going."

Watch the full video below:

Jonathan Haggerty won't back down

Losing his world championship to Rodtang and suffering a second defeat in the rematch could have taken Jonathan Haggerty some time to recover from.

But, the former champion knew that there was still work to do and plenty more to give at flyweight before he made the move to bantamweight.

Bouncing back against Naito would be one of his last fights in the flyweight Muay Thai division before this current chapter of his career began.

After achieving great success at bantamweight, he will now face arguably his toughest test to date when he defends the Muay Thai world championship against Superlek on September 6.

Tickets for ONE 168: Denver are available via Ticketmaster.

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