"It might do him a world of good" - Jonathan Haggerty empathizes with Rodtang missing weight, suggests move up to bantamweight

Reigning ONE bantamweight kickboxing world champion Jonathan Haggerty completely understands the struggles that former ONE flyweight Muay Thai world champion Rodtang Jitmuangnon experienced heading into ONE 169: Malykhin vs. 'Reug Reug' this past Friday, Nov. 8.

In an interview with Sky Sports, 'The General' advised Rodtang:

"At flyweight, I missed it a few times and it's at that point that you just have to tell yourself, 'let's move up.' And you never know, it might do him a world of good if he moves up a weight like it did for me. I went up there and done what I had to do."

Haggerty knows the extent of Rodtang's fighting abilities after the Thai hero supplanted him as the new 135-pound Muay Thai world champion in August 2019. He sought to reclaim it in their January 2020 rematch, but Rodtang dealt him a TKO defeat instead.

Rodtang had since successfully defended the throne four more times and was eyeing his sixth at ONE 169 against Jacob Smith inside the Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand. However, the Jitmuangnon Gym star was stripped of the gold for missing weight.

Despite the unfortunate circumstance, 'The Iron Man' outclassed Smith to win their catchweight (135.5 pounds) Muay Thai bout via unanimous decision.

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Jonathan Haggerty focused on defending kickboxing crown next

Jonathan Haggerty is turning his attention towards defending the 145-pound kickboxing crown after losing the ONE bantamweight Muay Thai world championship to flyweight kickboxing king Superlek Kiatmoo9 at ONE 168: Denver this past September inside the Ball Arena.

Speaking with the Sky Sports MMA Club, Haggerty mentioned:

"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."