Two-sport king Jonathan Haggerty grades his win over Taiki Naito: “Probably one of my best performances”
Two-sport king Jonathan Haggerty believes his performance against Taiki Naito was one of his best throughout his career.
Today, 'The General' reigns over the bantamweight division as both the ONE Muay Thai and kickboxing world champion.
But before establishing himself as the dominant force at 145, Haggerty was taking names and kicking a** at flyweight against some of the division's most exciting scrappers — including Japanese standout Taiki Naito
Looking back on the bout during a career retrospective on his YouTube channel, Haggerty suggested that his performance against Naito was him at his absolute best.
Haggerty said:
"So what I'm seeing is a few feints in catching my opponent over with some great right hands, which was the game plan for this fight originally, to see me changing my styles up, my stance. I don't think he could cope with that. So this was probably one of my best performances".
"If you watch it closely, you can see my style is sort of like more bouncy, instead of more like a traditional style..
Jonathan Haggerty has looked unstoppable at bantamweight
Making the move to bantamweight two years removed from his fight with Naito, Jonathan Haggerty has delivered some of the best finishes of his career, KO'ing both Nong-O Hama and reigning ONE bantamweight MMA world champion Fabricio Andrade to claim his two crowns.
He's since added a successful defense to his resume, knocking out 'Demolition Man' Felipe Lobo at ONE Fight Night 19 to retain the ONE bantamweight Muay Thai title.
On Friday, Sept. 6, he'll put that gold up for grabs once again when he meets 'The Kicking Machine' Superlek Kiatmoo9 at ONE 168: Denver in one of the most anticipated Muay Thai fights in ONE Championship history.
Superlek goes into the bout undefeated in the art of eight limbs, earning 10 straight victories in ONE, including noteworthy wins over Rodtang and most recently, Kongthoranee Sor Sommai.
Reigning as the ONE flyweight kickboxing world champion, 'The Kicking Machine' will look to etch his name in the history books as the promotion's latest two-sport titleholder when he meets Haggerty inside Ball Arena in The Mile High City — Denver, Colorado.
Follow this link for tickets for ONE 168: Denver on Sept. 6 at Ball Arena.