ONE Championship: Hiroki Akimoto says Jonathan Haggerty is not an MMA fighter
- Akimoto cannot understand why Haggerty, who hopes to switch to MMA to challenge Fabricio Andrade, would want to compete in a different sport
- ‘He’s a great Muay Thai fighter but not an MMA fighter,’ Akimoto says
Hiroki Akimoto is the No 1 contender in ONE Championship’s bantamweight division, but his long wait for a fight is set to continue.
The former champion reportedly signed up to face reigning champion Jonathan Haggerty in Tokyo only for the Englishman to turn that bout down.
Akimoto had won five in a row before losing by split decision to Petchtanong Petchfergus in a defeat which cost him the bantamweight kickboxing belt.
The Thai subsequently failed a drug test and was stripped of his title and suspended. Haggerty would go on to win the vacant belt but Akimoto was very surprised to hear that the newly crowned champion now wants to switch to MMA.
Haggerty holds both the bantamweight Muay Thai and kickboxing belts. He has made it clear he wants to switch to MMA in order to challenge reigning champion Fabricio Andrade. Akimoto cannot understand why Haggerty would want to compete in a different sport.
“I don’t know why he wants to fight in MMA. He’s a great Muay Thai fighter but not an MMA fighter,” he told SCMP.