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ONE bantamweight kickboxing world champion Jonathan Haggerty has the perfect plan in mind to seal his first title defense come ONE 171: Qatar on Thursday, Feb. 20.
'The General' puts his gold on the line against Chinese kickboxing sensation 'Demon Blade' Wei Rui when the promotion returns to the Lusail Sports Arena for its sophomore outing in the region.
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Having had his three-match knockout streak ended in unfortunate fashion at ONE 168: Denver, the Englishman is placing all his eggs in one basket to rediscover his touch.
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Per the superstar, he'll only need less than two rounds to see off his challenger. Jonathan Haggerty told ONE Championship:
"I feel confident that I can put on a spectacular performance. I want to go down the same route as I did against Andrade. So I'm thinking a second-round stoppage."
He claimed the vacant ONE bantamweight kickboxing crown in his all-champion showdown against Fabricio Andrade in the main event of ONE Fight Night 16 in November 2023.
Despite Andrade's kickboxing background, Haggerty handed the bantamweight MMA king a cruel knockout at 1:57 of the second round.
His world title defense against Wei will headline ONE 171: Qatar. Catch all the action live next Thursday at watch.onefc.com.
Jonathan Haggerty says plans for MMA switch on the back burner for now
If all ended well for Jonathan Haggerty in Denver, where he suffered a 49-second knockout loss to Superlek Kiatmoo9, he would have set the MMA crown in Andrade's possession as his top priority this year.
Unfortunately, the Brit revealed that his plan to transition to the all-encompassing discipline is now second to reclaiming his Muay Thai gold that he surrendered to 'The Kicking Machine' in the Ball Arena.
He went on to add in the same interview with the promotion:
"I was at the point earlier last year where I was ready to [try MMA]. But now, losing the Muay Thai belt, that's my bread and butter, and that setback didn't help. So, the timing is off again. My main priority is to get the Muay Thai belt back."
