Jonathan Haggerty wants another crack at Superlek Kiatmuu9 in ONE Championship – and insists this time his rival will be in for a “long night”.
Thailand’s Superlek pulled off a stunning first-round KO to claim the bantamweight Muay Thai title from Haggerty in less than a minute at ONE 168 in Denver last September.
It was a bitter blow for the United Kingdom’s “General”, who had spent a month acclimatising at altitude in Colorado and, by his own admission, was more prepared than ever.
“I didn't want to say it was a lucky shot because obviously it was a great shot – he timed it well,” Haggerty told the Bangkok Post in Doha, Qatar, where the former two-sport champion is set to defend his bantamweight kickboxing belt against Wei Rui at ONE 171 on Thursday.
“But I'm just sad I couldn't show what I put in in the gym. I was waiting for round two, round three to kick in the gears.
“You don't know how frustrating it is. I was super ready. It's probably the best I've ever felt apart from this fight camp. Maybe we'll get a rematch and we make it a win this time.”
Superlek has other business to tend to first, in the form of a unification bout with interim bantamweight Muay Thai champ Nabil Anane at ONE 172 in Japan next month.
Win or lose, it would be no surprise to see “The Kicking Machine” – who also holds ONE’s flyweight kickboxing belt – make a play for Haggerty’s other title.
“Any ruleset [is fine] really, as long as I keep my guard up this time and don't rush in and be too eager,” Haggerty said with a laugh.
“But 100 per cent I'd welcome him over to kickboxing – he'll have a long night this time.
“I feel like I'm going to let the Muay Thai division play out first. There's a lot of great contenders coming through. See how Nabil and Superlek get on. That’ll be a great fight. I'll be watching and hopefully get the winner.”
Haggerty has had six months to stew on his shocking loss to Superlek, which many seasoned analysts including Joe Rogan and Demetrious Johnson observing he was caught after lunging in with his trademark “hop” – a hole in his game he has gone away and fixed.
“It's what I do – it's worked for me ever since, but obviously now he found out a way to get past it,” Haggerty added.
“I always thought it’s one thing having a game plan but another thing implementing it when you're fighting against me. But obviously he put it into action very well.
“So great work but obviously I've changed a lot of things and we'll have to see for the next fight.”
Haggerty was reduced to tears by the loss, but his arm is tattooed with the words “bulletproof mindset” for a reason.
“I was gutted for the first week,” he said. “I feel like the first time I lost the flyweight Muay Thai belt [in 2020] I took it hard on myself.
“I put a lot of pressure on myself but obviously I knew that I could get [a title] back and I did, so now I've taken that mentality of ‘I'm going to go get that back again’.
“So it's up to me now to keep putting in the hard work, stay dedicated to my craft and just better myself in every way possible. That's what we're doing and we're starting with this fight.”