"Don't take the fight" - Jonathan Haggerty reveals his dad thought it was a bad idea for him to face Nong-O

Jonathan Haggerty never expected his dad to react the way that he did when he was offered the Nong-O world title fight in 2023.

'The General' has experienced many doubters in his career, but the one that stung him the most was when his dad told him to rethink fighting the best pound-for-pound Muay Thai striker in the world.

Speaking on the Winners Talking Podcast, Jonathan Haggerty recollected:

"I remember even ringing up my dad when I was in town, I was like, 'Dad, listen they've given me the world title shot against Nong-O.' And my dad was saying to me, 'Don't take the fight. Yeah, listen, don't take the fight. He's a bigger version of Rodtang.' And I was a bit disheartened because I was excited. You know me, I'd take any fight."

Jonathan Haggerty continued to add:

"And I eventually chose to take the fight, it's me getting in there, take risk and prosper. That's what I live by. And I remember when I got the knockout my dad jumped in the ring, he tried to come up to me, and try to celebrate with me. But I pushed him away I said, he grabbed me, he tried to grab me, celebrate, and I pushed him, I went to him, 'I f***ing told you I'd do it, I f***ing told you I'd knock him out!' And then from there onwards, it was like, 'Take any fight you want boy.'"

Watch Jonathan Haggerty's full interview below:

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Jonathan Haggerty silenced critics with historic upset KO over long-reigning bantamweight Muay Thai king Nong-O

One of Jonathan Haggerty's greatest triumphs will always be his monumental KO upset over Nong-O at ONE Fight Night 9.

As mentioned before, Haggerty also hesitated to take this fight. But he knew in the back of his mind that he was fully capable of taking down the longest-reigning bantamweight Muay Thai world champion.

Leaving his fans speechless, it took 'The General' one round to finish the job, knocking down the champion twice before landing his last shot to end the fight.

Unfortunately for Haggerty, he couldn't replicate what he did to Nong-O to Superlek Kiatmoo9 this past September. He surrendered his belt to the Thai megastar via KO in the first 49 seconds of his world title defense.

However, he has one more belt to defend, his ONE bantamweight kickboxing world title. It's only a matter time before he makes his return back to the ONE ring.

Watch the full fight replay between Nong-O and Jonathan Haggerty below: