British two-sport master Jonathan Haggerty bounced back from an early setback to retain his ONE Bantamweight Muay Thai World Title in his knockout win over Brazilian Felipe Lobo in the main event of ONE Fight Night 19.
The overall event was electric but this fight in particular was an all out war. It may be fight of the year and we are only in February, that is the level of Haggerty’s win over Lobo. The Brit had to face a scary moment early on, before bouncing back in the second and third rounds.
Round one got off to a lightning start with Lobo asserting himself and backing Haggerty up against the ropes. A nice flurry of punches from the Brazilian saw Haggerty receive a standing eight-count.
As we all know, “The General” is never out of a fight and he bounced straight back in round two by registering a knockdown of his own. Having fended away Lobo’s combination, Haggerty landed an uppercut before his left fist connected with the chin of the Brazilian and sent him crashing to the floor. Both fighters showed true grit and continued going toe-to-toe, with Lobo almost dropping Haggerty again in the final moments of the second round.
After the early scare, Haggerty was now full of confidence heading into the third round and needed just 45 seconds to end the fight and retain his title. The Brit stepped forward and landed a monstrous right hand to send his opponent crashing to the canvas.
Haggerty’s career record moves to 22-4, having won his last seven fights and his last three being ONE World Title fights, which he has won by the way of knockout. After the fight he mentioned going after the MMA title that is held by Fabricio Andrade, who Haggerty beat to win his ONE Bantamweight Kickboxing World Title. There is also the potential for him to face Rodtang for a third time in a Muay Thai bout.
Prior to the main event, Saemapetch Fairtex took on Mohamed Younes Rabah and got avenged his previous defeat to Rabah with a first-round TKO. He dropped his Algerian opponent three times in the opening round landing punch after punch before the referee had to step in.
Philippines fighter Lito Adiwang won by unanimous decision in his strawweight MMA bout with Australia’s Danial Williams. It took just over a minute for Adiwang to assert dominance as he connected with a right hand to send Williams to the floor. From there on it was a commanding win for Adiwang.
A similar outcome in a lightweight Muay Thai fight saw Spaniard Nauzet Trujillo claim victory against Liam Nolan. The highlight of this fight was a sickening elbow from Trujillo that sent his opponent crashing to the canvas.
One of the finer finishes of the evening came from Hiroyuki Tetsuka against Abraao Amorim. The “Japanese Beast” locked his opponent into an armbar in the first round and forced the Brazilian to submit.
An all-USA fight between Luke Lessei and Eddie Abasolo had very little between them as the former won via split decision. The second round saw both fighters register knockdowns as the fight went all the way to the wire and needed the judges to separate the two.
The only female fight on the card saw the debut of Polish fighter Martyna Kierczynska dominate Nat Jaroonsak and claim the win via TKO in round two. “Wondergirl” struggled throughout and the writing was on the wall from the first round as Kierczynska landed multiple combinations within the first 20 seconds of the bout and Wondergirl stumbled.
Mansur Malachiev needed all three rounds to defeat Yosuke Saruta in a strawweight MMA bout. The Russian was dominant early on but his opponent answered back in the second round to make it a good contest. It wasn’t enough however as Malachiev won via unanimous decision.
The night opened with a very swift TKO from Thongpoon PK Saenchai over Timur Chuikov. Thongpoon connected with a fierce right hand on three occasions within the first round to win the fight and kick off the electric evening.
Next up in the ONE fight calendar is ONE Friday Fights 53 on February 23rd, followed up by the huge ONE 166: Qatar event with five World Title bouts. Headlining the event is the ONE Middleweight MMA World Championship bout between Reinier De Ridder and Anatoly Malykhin.
Will Moxon Sports 