"I'm still a champ" - Jonathan Haggerty shifting full focus to keeping his bantamweight kickboxing crown

After suffering the worst defeat of his career, Jonathan Haggerty has already licked his wounds and is ready to move forward. 'The General' lost his bantamweight Muay Thai crown brutally to Superlek Kiatmoo9 in the main event of the blockbuster ONE 168: Denver at the Ball Arena last month.

While the pain of surrendering 26 pounds of gold still lingers, Haggerty admits he can't dwell on the past, especially since he still has another coveted hardware in possession.

In an interview with the Sky Sports MMA Club podcast, the reigning bantamweight kickboxing world champion says he'll now put all his focus on keeping his remaining belt:

"I think we can still definitely get it. I’m still a champ. I’m still the kickboxing World Champion. So I still got one belt, I know I had two, but now I have one."

As much as Jonathan Haggerty wants to hold on to his status as two-sport world champion, it's a daunting task.

For now, the 27-year-old from Orpington, England has sights on his first bantamweight kickboxing world title defense, in a division with no shortage of challengers.

No.1-ranked contender Wei Rui of China is certainly a viable adversary, while former world champions Ilias Ennahachi, Hiroki Akimoto, and Petchtanong Petchfergus are all hot on Haggerty's trail.

Jonathan Haggerty rues game plan to 'bully' Superlek

Jonathan Haggerty is not the type to have regrets but admits the costly mistake he made against Superlek.

'The General' thought he could impose his physicality against 'The Kicking Machine', considering it was his first foray in the 145-pound division.

Needless to say, that game plan backfired big time. The Team Underground and Knowlesy Academy affiliate said in the same interview:

"He was coming up from flyweight, I felt like I wanted to show him who the bigger man was and, just that really, and not taking my time. But like I said, learning curve and I’ll be back."