Jonathan Haggerty is looking to start the year strongly in the first defence of his ONE bantamweight kickboxing world championship belt against Chinese striker Wei Rui.
The Londoner enters the fight following a tough year, after losing his muay thai title to Superlek Kiatmoo9 in September 2024.
Despite this setback, Haggerty is determined to make 2025 a memorable year.
“That was a bit of a downer, but we’re back and raring to go,” said Haggerty. “We don’t lose, we learn”.
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Looking forward, Haggerty has big plans for the upcoming year: “I’m just going to make sure 2025 is the best year possible.”
For his first fight of the year, Haggerty returns to kickboxing. After winning the belt in 2023, he is the current bantamweight kickboxing champion. He will now face the experienced Wei Rui in the Lusail Arena in Qatar.
Known as ‘Demon Blade’, the Chinese striker is a former K-1 world champion and boasts an incredible record of 70 wins and only three losses in his career.
Superlek knocked out Jonathan Haggerty in just 49 seconds to become the ONE Bantamweight Muay Thai World Champion
With a 21-fight winning streak, Rui was last defeated in 2018. His victorious debut in ONE in May last year against former ONE bantamweight kickboxing champion Hiroki Akimoto solidified his position as a deserving title challenger.
The British fighter acknowledges the threat Wei poses, praising him as “another world-class striker”.
“We’re not taking him lightly,” he said.
Despite this, the champion remains confident. “We do think we can do a demolition job on him for sure,” Haggerty told ONE Championship, recalling his devastating knockout victory over Brazilian fighter Fabricio Andrade to win the title. He’s determined to replicate that success in Qatar.
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However, the main event could be set to steal the spotlight with the MMA strawweight world title unification bout between Joshua Pacio and the interim champion Jarred Brooks.
This will be the third time these two have faced off, with Brooks taking the win in their first fight in 2022. However, their second clash saw Brooks disqualified for an illegal strike, causing him to lose his title in 2024.
With both fighters needing to prove themselves, the stage is set for an explosive trilogy fight.
Peacock returns to ONE Championship
Adding to the exciting card of ONE 171, one-handed fighter Jake Peacock returns to ONE Championship. Following a remarkable debut in 2024, Peacock has proven he is ready to compete with the best.
He is set to face Japanese fighter Shinji Suzuki. Their bout was originally slated for November but was then rescheduled to feature on this event in Qatar.
The inspirational British-Canadian fighter is eager to deliver another thrilling performance: “Mark my words, this next fight, it’s got to be business.”
You can catch all the action live on Sky Sports from 3pm on Thursday February 20
