"A little tricky" - Jonathan Haggerty reveals why he struggled in bantamweight debut against Vladimir Kuzmin

Jonathan Haggerty has reaped the rewards of making a big change in his career when he decided to move up a weight class. 'The General' debuted in ONE Championship as a new and exciting contender in the flyweight Muay Thai division.

He achieved a lot of success at this weight but making the flyweight limit was beginning to impact his preparations and performances.

Although Haggerty now reigns as a two-sport world champion at bantamweight, his debut was a difficult first outing. The former flyweight champion met Vladimir Kuzmin at ONE on Prime Video 4 in what was a very closely contested affair.

While he was able to get his hand raised, it was not the welcoming party that Haggerty may have hoped for up at bantamweight. He reflected on the fight during a recent YouTube video where he spoke about how the styles impacted this clash:

"Stylistically,tit was a bad fight to watch. It was a bad fight for me. Style-wise, we both were similar. It was clashing. The way he was moving back and forth. It was a little bit difficult, a little tricky."

Watch the full video below:

Jonathan Haggerty was able to overcome tough challenges

Even with a tough stylistic match-up that by his admission didn't make for the best of fights, Jonathan Haggerty came away with the win. By coming through some adversity against Kuzmin, he was able to learn some vital lessons about fighting at this new weight class.

His continued evolution as a top-tier striker needed this fight for him to go on and have the success that he has realized at bantamweight.

The champion is now set to return in the main event of ONE 168 where his Muay Thai world championship will be on the line against Superlek at the Ball Arena on Sept. 6.

Tickets for ONE 168: Denver are available via Ticketmaster.