Training hard is not enough to find great success in the world of combat sports as it is not unheard of for fighters to move away from gyms in search for the perfect fit.
For ONE Championship star Felipe Lobo, it appears that he found his match just ahead of the biggest fight of his life.
‘The Demolition Man’ is set to challenge Jonathan Haggerty for the ONE bantamweight Muay Thai world championship in the main event of ONE Fight Night 19 on Friday, February 16.
Lobo is coming off his first knockout victory within the promotion as he put away Saemapetch Fairtex with a blistering flurry of punches in round three to book his spot across Haggerty.
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The third-ranked bantamweight Muay Thai contender is already in Thailand to prepare for the bout and has enlisted the help of Tiger Muay Thai - the home of ONE world champions such as Anatoly Malykhin, Tang Kai, and Fabricio Andrade.
In an interview with The AllStar, Lobo had nothing but praise for Tiger Muay Thai:
“The energy there [in Tiger Muay Thai] is very very good, you know. The trainers there have amazing energy. The atmosphere there is good.”
Watch the full interview with Felipe Lobo here:
How Lobo and Haggerty’s rivalry began
In November of last year, Lobo and Haggerty crossed paths indirectly as the former was cornering ONE bantamweight MMA world champion Andrade for his bout against the latter for the vacant ONE bantamweight kickboxing world championship.
Following Haggerty’s knockout win, he and Lobo’s eyes met which led to a heated back-and-forth inside the ONE circle.
It all comes to a head at ONE Fight Night 19 inside the hallowed halls of the Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.
ONE Fight Night 19 is available live and for free to all Prime Video subscribers in North America.