“It’s never out of the cards” - Jonathan Haggerty suggests a run at the kickboxing world title is a possibility

Former ONE flyweight Muay Thai world champion Jonathan Haggerty will be making his bantamweight debut at ONE on Prime Video 4 against Vladimir Kuzmin. This move up in weight is in light of two straight bouts canceled due to health issues.

Now fighting at 145 lbs and healthier than ever, 'The General' is ready to take on new challenges, and we're not strictly speaking within the sport of Muay Thai. In an interview with the YouTube channel The MMA Super-Fan, Haggerty spoke about a lateral transition into ONE kickboxing and perhaps fighting for the belt there.

Jonathan Haggerty said:

"It’s never out of the cards. I used to be a kickboxer when I was younger. I used to watch K1-Max, and I can adapt. Like I always say, I can adapt. I think Thai boxing’s a lot harder if you ask me. We got to be worried about the elbows. With kickboxing, I feel like add your combinations together, and that’s it, you can go on a flurry a bit more. So, I’m easy, I can adapt, and who knows? I’m coming."

All of Haggerty's points are correct. Kickboxing doesn't allow elbow strikes of any kind. Another difference between Muay Thai and kickboxing is that the latter doesn't allow kick-catching, a prominent countermeasure in Muay Thai. We've seen many seasoned Muay Thai fighters get penalized because of their innate tendency to catch kicks.

Though there are many differences that can make kickboxing easier to deal with than Muay Thai, there are also specific rules that can make it difficult. Jonathan Haggerty better do his homework.

Watch the full interview here:

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Jonathan Haggerty cites hydration problems as main reason behind move up to bantamweight

In the same interview with The MMA Super-Fan, Jonathan Haggerty also touched on the main reason why he decided to move 10 pounds above his normal fighting weight. Apparently, it's ONE's hydration requirements that pushed the former world champion to fight heavier:

"The last time I made 61 kilos, I made the weight, but it's really the hyrdration, really. Just keeping myself hydrated, it's difficult to keep the balance... And in the next one, you know, my body must have just grown. I had a 12-week camp for Walter Goncalves and I started to fade in the last bit. I started to peak just a little bit early and, yeah you know, it was hard. I was doing it all by myself and I thought, 'I cannot afford to just not fight again this year. Let me go to bantamweight...Let me knock on their door.' Yeah man, I'm excited. Who knows, it might be the new me. "

In pro-fighting, most would say that a true fight happens in the struggle to make weight. From extreme dieting to unhealthy dehydration, many fighters find themselves at health risk just so they can beat the scale. While ONE Championship’s weight and hydration requirements are geared toward the safety of fighters, sometimes a competitor’s body just becomes too big for a division, as what happened with ‘The General'.

Perhaps it's a wise decision for Jonathan Haggerty to move up, as cutting too much weight could be detrimental to his health and, ultimately, his performance inside the circle.