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(Exclusive) Jonathan Haggerty talks ONE 171 & kickboxing title defense vs. Wei Rui

"The General" returns in the co-main event of ONE 171: Qatar.

Drew Beaupre

(ONE Championship)

Set to defend his bantamweight kickboxing belt for the first time in the co-main event of ONE 171: Qatar, Jonathan Haggerty spoke with MMA KO’s Drew Beaupré about his opponent Wei Rui, his most recent loss, and what he hopes to accomplish the rest of the year.

Fighting In Qatar & Matchup With Rui

Haggerty got to make his United States debut last year at ONE 168, and now the 28-year-old is thrilled to be a part of ONE Championship’s second trip to Qatar and face a dangerous challenger in Rui at Lusail Sports Arena.

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“I’m very excited for it, I actually went to the last Qatar event that ONE Championship put on, and it was amazing. I was lucky enough to witness it, and it was great atmosphere, great stadium, everything about it was unbelievable. Me and my girlfriend were just like ‘Wow'. She was like ‘I’d love for you to fight here one day.’ And I was like ‘I’d love to fight here, too.’ And we’re here now, and I’m very grateful and thankful.”

“[Rui is] a great opponent. He’s a well-credited opponent. He’s the number one in the division for a reason, he beat [Hiroki] Akimoto as well, great fighter as well. We know he’s a southpaw, but what I do is I normally let my coach, Christian Knowles, study them, and then we implement it in training. ‘Cause if I start looking at my opponent, I start to wonder, I start thinking about what he’s gonna do and now what I’m gonna do. So I have trust in my coach, he tells me what needs to be done and we get it done for nine weeks, and yeah – come February the 20th, hopefully we get the victory.”

"Sometimes You’re The Nail, Sometimes You’re The Hammer"

“The General” is making the jump back over to kickboxing after attempting to defend his bantamweight Muay Thai title in a rematch with Superlek at ONE 168. That fight ended via knockout in just 49 seconds, but Haggerty still feels he can take a lot from his previous training camp and fight ahead of his return to kickboxing.

“I thought [switching back to kickboxing] was gonna be difficult. We actually though it was gonna be quite difficult the first fight with [Fabricio] Andrade. Everything went to plan, I think we threw about two elbows in the whole fight camp. And in this fight camp, I think we’ve only thrown one elbow in the pad sessions. So hopefully we don’t throw them in the fight, but yeah – we’re excited for it, we enjoy the kickboxing. I feel like my style’s more kickboxing anyway, more bouncy, more aware, more evasive. Just excited to see what Wei Rui brings. So whatever he brings, we’re gonna bring too.”

Jonathan Haggerty was stopped by Superlek in his last fight at ONE 168.
Jonathan Haggerty was stopped by Superlek in his last fight at ONE 168. / (ONE Championship)

“I trained so hard for that [last[ fight, I’d done 13 weeks. I had so much in the tank. And I know for certain that I was – I’d say 90% more fit than him. And I just knew once it gets to Round 2, Round 3, he’d be gassing out, and that’s when I would take over. But obviously it didn’t get to that point, so that was the gutting point. But yeah, takeaway - don’t let the emotions get to you. I feel like I rushed in a little too much. I felt like I hurt him in like the 30 seconds and then I just see red, just had to chase the knockouts. Sometimes you’re the nail, sometimes you’re the hammer. And in that case I was the nail man, he banged me on the head bro.”

Balancing Kickboxing & Muay Thai Careers

Haggerty has a big opportunity to get back into the win column and defend his title at ONE 171. While he does plan to focus on his kickboxing career for the immediate future, he’ll certainly be returning to Muay Thai at some point.

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“The Muay Thai division is thriving, you know? You’ve got some new fighters in the division, which I’m excited to test myself against. We’ve got some great fighters coming through. Also, the kickboxing as well, it’s stacked. Your kickboxing and the Muay Thai is stacked, and I’m right at the top of it. I haven’t got an easy way either of them, so it’s up to me now to be the best that I can, train as hard as I possibly can and keep my head in the game and just stay positive and try to defend the belt as much as I possibly can.”

"The General" fully intends to become a two-sport ONE champion again.
"The General" fully intends to become a two-sport ONE champion again. / (ONE Championship)

“Obviously Superlek is on the radar, I wanna get the Muay Thai belt back, but I just feel like focusing on the kickboxing belt right now. Let the Muay Thai unravel itself, and then once I’ve defended the belt, get back to the drawing board, I’ll sit down with my team and the coach, sit down with ONE Championship and just see what the best option is for us. I mean, every fight they give me, we take, so we know they’ll give us a great fight.”

Picking The Right Time For An MMA Debut

Fans can expect to see Haggerty compete at least a couple more times this year after his title fight with Rui, and while his long-teased MMA debut isn’t an immediate priority at the moment it is something that’s still very much on the 28-year-old’s radar.

“So my New Year’s resolution was to fight four times this year. Four times – do you know what it is though, is that my fight camps are so long. I’m a proper perfectionist, and I know I need nine weeks and I won’t be getting in that cage or in that ring if I’m 90%. I need to be 100%. So I need a fully nine to ten week fight camp, and then – yeah, that’s it, the fight camps are long and they’re harder than the fight.”

Jonathan Haggerty has always planned to test himself in MMA at some point.
Jonathan Haggerty has always planned to test himself in MMA at some point. / (ONE Championship)

“I’ve always wanted to do MMA, ever since a young kid. My dad has the MMA gym, I’ve always been around it, but obviously things have come up. I’ve won the belt, I’ve won the kickboxing belt as well, so there’s other things that I needed to do, like defending the belts. If the fights were [quick[ and I had nothing to do, then I’d definitely have an MMA fight by now. But my priority is to keep the belts and defend them."

Fighting In The Co-Main Event At ONE 171

ONE 171 is a star-studded affair that features two title fights and a number of former ONE Championship titleholders. Haggerty has quickly grown into one of the promotion’s biggest stars, and he values the opportunity to compete in the co-main event on a card that boasts ONE veterans such as Aung La N Sang, Martin Nguyen, and Bibiano Fernandes.

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“It’s crazy, because when I first entered ONE Championship, the guys that are fighting on the undercard now, were the boys. They obviously still are the boys, but like – I was like ‘Wow,’ I was in this big organization and these guys already had like ten fights, and I was looking up to them. I still look up to them now honestly, but now I’m the main event and it’s just mad at times. Time changes, and yeah, it’s just crazy and I’m very grateful. I’m looking forward to the trilogy [between Joshua Pacio and Jarred Brooks], I was there for the last fight...Very unfortunate, there’s some unfinished business. So that should be fire as well, I’m excited for this card and so should everybody else.”

“I just wanna say a massive thank you to everyone for being so supportive. Even off that last loss that’s been so supportive, and I’m just grateful to have such a great team behind me. Great sponsors, and I’m just thankful to ONE Championship as well for always giving me these opportunities, and come February the 20th, I’m coming to make another statement.”

Haggerty will attempt to defend his bantamweight kickboxing belt for the first time when he meets Rui in the co-main event of ONE 171, and in the night’s headlining bout Joshua Pacio and Jarred Brooks will finally settle their rivalry with a trilogy bout for the ONE strawweight MMA title.

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Drew Beaupre
DREW BEAUPRE

Drew is an MMA writer that regularly watches regional events in addition to major promotions such as the UFC, PFL, Bellator, and ONE Championship. He joined MMA Knockout when it was founded in 2023.

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