Jonathan Haggerty recalls being wheeled in next to Sam-A after grueling world title battle: “It was a war”

Undisputed ONE bantamweight kickboxing world champion Jonathan Haggerty of the United Kingdom admitted that Thai legend Sam-A Gaiyanghadao pushed him like never before.

'The General' challenged the Thai icon for the ONE flyweight Muay Thai world championship at ONE: For Honor back in 2019. Nobody gave the British striker much of a chance back then, given that he was facing a Thai icon with over 400 career fights.

But the fearless Haggerty flipped the script and took the fight to Sam-A for five full rounds.

Both elite warriors displayed the highest levels of ‘The Art of Eight Limbs’ and gave fans a memorable brawl for the ages.

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The pair of proud warriors reached their limits as the bell rang, and Haggerty shocked the world by capturing the crown via a close unanimous decision victory.

Speaking on the Mulligan Brothers podcast on YouTube, Haggerty revealed the aftermath of that epic battle, where he and Sam-A were hospitalized.

The 28-year-old also revealed how they even broke the language barrier after displaying mutual respect.

"100 percent. And you know what made it better? They wheeled in my opponent on the other hospital bed, and we both, he doesn't speak English obviously, from Thailand, Sam-A. We both looked at each other and went like that, and it was just, it was a war. It was a great fight."

Watch the full podcast episode:

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Jonathan Haggerty says he made tons of sacrifices to reach the elite level

By now, Jonathan Haggerty is already used to high-stakes championship bouts.

But to reach the top, he had to grind like everybody else.

“A lot. Twelve-week fight camp. It was hard. It was very hard. The body was broken, and I just had to get on with it. I knew I was going to win, so that's what pushed me on,” Haggerty said on the same interview.

He added:

“Friends, blocking out a lot of things, a lot of things that you could be doing fun-wise, but you need to have your priorities straight and be where you want to be.”

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Edited by Saiyed Adeem Karim