Jonathan Haggerty Reflects on Title-Winning Performance Against Fabricio Andrade

Reigning ONE bantamweight muay thai champion Jonathan Haggerty has finally achieved one of his primary goals as a combat sports athlete with his latest outing against mixed martial arts champion Fabricio Andrade.

Haggerty (20-4) impressively secured the vacant bantamweight kickboxing title via Round 2 knockout in a champion vs. champion main event clash against Andrade (29-1) at ONE on Prime Video 16 and is now a two-sport world champion.

While most fans expected the fight to be a back-and-forth affair, things seemed quite different inside the ring. Interestingly, as per Haggerty's post-fight comments, the Englishman isn't shocked by the outcome of the bout.

“I wasn’t surprised at all,” he said. “I was going in for the knockout. I was saying all week that he’d be getting knocked out. I feel like he knew himself that he was going to be stopped and beat but he was just putting up a front and showing face which is what you have to do as a fighter. You can’t show that you’re scared, you can’t show any weaknesses but tonight was my night and he shouldn’t have been in there with me.”

Discussing his opponent's skills inside the ring, Haggerty gave the MMA champion props for stepping up for the opportunity. Nevertheless, the English striking phenom is of the opinion that Andrade is not “on the same level” as him.

“He’s a great striker, he’s shown it in his MMA fights, he’s a great champion, there’s respect there,” Haggerty said. “Anyone that steps in that ring is always respected, but I knew his striking wasn’t on my level. I’ll say it time and time again. He went for greatness, he tried for greatness, and you can’t knock him for that. I’ve said it before: I was going to drag him into deep waters and just prove to him that he’s not on the same level as me when it comes to striking.”

For now, the Englishman plans to go back to muay thai and defend his belt against Nong-O in a rematch.

“I need to defend my muay thai belt first,” Haggerty said. “That is always first on my list ,but then obviously the kickboxing title came up and I loved the challenge, so I took it. I want to defend my muay thai belt now because I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, you’re not a champion until you’ve defended your belt so let’s defend this muay thai belt and get this show on the road.”

Moreover, he’s also expressed a serious interest in competing for Andrade’s MMA title down the line. In fact, the Englishman has seemingly agreed to train with the Ruotolo brothers for his eventual MMA debut. That’s a partnership that could see both parties become well-rounded mixed martial artists.

“I got a video on my phone shaking his [Tye Ruotolo’s] hand and agreeing to train with them [the Ruotolo brothers] when I make my MMA debut so that’s already locked in. We’re already aiming for the stars so be careful MMA division. Be careful Andrade, I’m coming for your belt.”