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ONE bantamweight Muay Thai world champion Nong-O Hama should be nicknamed 'The Fly'. Like the buzzing insect, the Thai living legend seamingly has 6,000 eyes as he can detect oncoming attacks a mile away.
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This was highly evident when Nong-O Hama faced the lethal Saemapetch Fairtex back in 2019.
Saemapetch is known for his ferocious combinations, in which he throws multiple strikes with the intention of ending the bout with every single one. It's quite remarkable how Nong-O managed to evade most of his opponent's fiery combinations to land his own.
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In a video released by ONE Championship, we see Nong-O masterfully doing the most difficult thing in a fight: making his opponent miss. Not only did he evade Saemapetch's head kick by mere inches, Nong-O also connected with a counterpunch right after.
Here's the video:
"Missed me 😝 @nongogaiyanghadao"
Nong-O showed how to perfectly land a pull-back counter in Muay Thai. Leaning back and evading a head kick doesn't allow as much positional advantage to throw a counterpunch as opposed to evading a punch.
A leg is a longer limb than an arm and the fact that Nong-O perfectly measured his lean back just enough so he can throw a counterpunch is at many levels ingenious.
Furthermore, after landing the right hand, Nong-O Hama was also able to get out of the way of an oncoming punch. This level of defensive savvy is reserved for masters.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. would be proud.
Nong-O Hama to defend world title against Jonathan Haggerty at ONE Fight Night 9
Nong-O Hama will be needing his masterful defensive skills and more as he is set to defend his throne against former ONE flyweight Muay Thai titleholder Jonathan 'The General' Haggerty. The world title fight is the first of many bouts to be attached to ONE Fight Night 9 on Prime Video.
The English striking phenom will look to conquer another weight class as he aims to dethrone the longtime ONE bantamweight Muay Thai king on April 21 in Singapore.
Haggerty has packed a lot of momentum since losing his ONE flyweight Muay Thai belt two years ago, winning three straight bouts in ONE. His most recent victory was a majority decision nod over Russia's Vladimir Kuzmin at ONE on Prime Video 4 in November last year.
Nong-O, for his part, has been utterly unstoppable since 2018. He's on a 10-fight winning streak and has won his last five via knockout. The Thai world champion has also held the belt for nearly four years now and defended it a record seven times.
Nong-O Hama's last world title defense was at ONE Friday Fights 1 in Thailand, obliterating former ONE bantanweight kickboxing titleholder Alaverdi Ramazanov inside three rounds.
The rest of the card for ONE Fight Night 9 has yet to be filled, but the event will be aired live and for free to all Prime Video subscribers in North America.
