Thai icon Rodtang Jitmuangnon has long dominated ONE Championship’s flyweight division. He has taken on and got the better of many top-notch fighters, including British striker Jonathan Haggerty.
‘The Iron Man’ battled ‘The General’ twice in the past, with the former winning each time.
Rodtang took the first match at ONE: Dawn of Heroes in August 2019 in Manila, Philippines, winning by unanimous decision to dethrone Haggerty as ONE flyweight Muay Thai world champion.
They had their rematch in January 2020 at ONE: A New Tomorrow in Bangkok, Thailand, where the Jitmuangnon Gym standout scored a more definitive victory, finishing the Englishman in the third round by way of TKO (three knockdowns).
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Haggerty started strong in the opening canto with his jabs and kicks. Rodtang, however, turned things around when he connected on a solid left hook to the body that sent his opponent down to the canvas for the first time.
They went back and forth in the second round and early in the third frame until Haggerty’s eye was accidentally poked by Rodtang, and the fight was temporarily halted to give the Knowlesy Academy affiliate time to recover.
When the contest resumed, the two went at it again, but Rodtang managed to land a flurry of punches to the body that sent Haggerty down for the second time in the match. The third and final knockdown came at the 2:39 mark of the third round when ‘The Iron Man’ uncorked another salvo of punches, including a hard left to the body of ‘The General’ to complete the TKO win.
It is the second showdown between the two that ONE Championship looked back on in a video it shared on YouTube.
Check out the video below:
Rodtang, Jonathan Haggerty return at ONE SAMURAI 1
Rodtang and Jonathan Haggerty return to action next week in ONE Championship’s huge event in Japan.
The two are featured against separate opponents in two world title fights at ONE SAMURAI 1 on April 29 at Tokyo’s Ariake Arena. Both are kickstarting their ONE campaign for this year at the event.
‘The Iron Man’ headlines the stacked card, battling Japanese kickboxing legend Takeru Segawa in a rematch for the interim flyweight kickboxing world title. Rodtang took their first encounter in March last year at ONE 172, finishing things in just 80 seconds by knockout.
Haggerty, meanwhile, defends the bantamweight kickboxing gold against hometown bet Yuki Yoza. It will be the second defense of ‘The General’ of the world title he won in November 2023.
ONE SAMURAI 1 is the debut offering of ONE Championship’s new monthly fight series in Japan. Pay-per-view passes for the event can be purchased via this link.
Edited by Saiyed Adeem Karim
