Jonathan Haggerty says Fabricio Andrade’s mind games don’t work but "he can try"

ONE bantamweight Muay Thai world champion Jonathan Haggerty remains unflappable in the face of Fabricio Andrade’s taunting antics.

Haggerty will face Andrade, the ONE bantamweight MMA world champion, in a champion vs. champion super fight in the main event of ONE Fight Night 16 on Friday, US primetime, at the historic Lumpinee Boxing Stadium.

The two world champions will contend for the vacant ONE bantamweight kickboxing world title in the hallowed Bangkok arena.

While he and Andrade are firmly into fight week, the two already got into a heated exchange more than a month before their fated meeting.

Andrade and Haggerty were in attendance for ONE Fight Night 15, and the two stared each other down in the middle of the ring got fans inside Lumpinee in bated breath.

In an interview with ONE Championship, Haggerty said Andrade tried pushing him during their October encounter, but he was having none of it.

Haggerty said:

"I mean, I felt great. You know, I came away with confidence as always. But that's not me that I mean, head to head. But he wanted to go head to head. So I feel a little bit of I've got a little bit of strength behind me. He could have pushed me. He tried, but he felt. But yeah, it's all part of the fight game, right? I mean, he can try, but I doubt it's going to go that way.”

The two have since gone face to face once more in the athletes’ hotel in Bangkok, but things weren’t as intense during their first meeting.

Haggerty, a former ONE flyweight Muay Thai world champion, could capture his third world title if he gets past Andrade this Friday.

‘The General’ could join Stamp Fairtex, Regian Eersel, Sam-A Gaiyanghadao, and Janet Todd as the only athletes in ONE Championship to simultaneously hold Muay Thai and kickboxing world titles.

ONE Fight Night 16 is available live and for free to all Prime Video subscribers in North America.