ONE Fight Night 19: Jonathan Haggerty survives early knockdown to finish Felipe Lobo
- Englishman successfully defends his bantamweight Muay Thai title in Bangkok
- Haggerty gets up from first-round knockdown before sending the Brazilian sprawling in the third
Jonathan Haggerty had to survive a torrid opening round in order to defend his bantamweight Muay Thai title at ONE Fight Night 19. Felipe Lobo dropped him with a body shot early on but the champion rallied to finish the fight in the third round.
There was animosity in the air at Bangkok’s Lumpinee Stadium as the two men neglected to touch gloves at the start of the fight.
Haggerty was switching stance and firing off kicks low and high. Lobo started to fire back with punches, swinging hooks towards his opponent’s head and body.
He had Haggerty trapped in the corner and the Englishman looked in trouble but was able to survive and circle out. Lobo was relentless and pursued him across the ring, with a hard right hand forcing Haggerty to take a knee.
He beat the count and the round ended before the Brazilian could do any more damage but Haggerty’s six-fight winning streak looked in real danger at this stage.
The roles were reversed in the second stanza with the Englishman scoring a knockdown of his own courtesy of a left hook.