ONE Championship: Superlek eyes weight gain and Haggerty clash, as he looks for rival ‘who challenges me’
- Superlek Kiatmoo9 eyes jump to bantamweight after convincing decision victory over Takeru Segawa
- Superlek has faced Jonathan Haggerty once before, and believes there a lot of good fights ahead
Jonathan Haggerty holds two titles and has talked about challenging for a third. It means just about every single bantamweight across the entire ONE Championship roster is a potential opponent for the Englishman.
Also throwing his hat into the ring this weekend is a flyweight who has beaten Haggerty before. Superlek Kiatmoo9 holds a 2018 win over him and is willing and ready to move up in weight in order to secure a rematch.
Superlek was at ONE Fight Night 19 and in an exclusive interview told the Post he wanted to “fight someone who challenges me”.
“I’m not sure how the fight would happen, but I’m sure it would be a good challenge for me … and moving up to bantamweight would open up a lot of really good fights,” he said.
Superlek is coming off two of the biggest wins of his career. The decision victory over Rodtang Jitmuangnon at ONE Friday Fights 46 was slightly marred by his failure to make the flyweight limit.
As a result Rodtang’s flyweight Muay Thai title was not on the line that day. There were no such issues at ONE 165 and Superlek beat Takeru Segawa by decision in Tokyo to defend his kickboxing belt and silence the Japanese fans.
Both fights were hugely entertaining, and ONE Championship CEO Chatri Sityodtong has suggested the three fighters involved could end up facing each other multiple times. Superlek doesn’t appear to be on board with this idea and is eyeing up a move to bantamweight.
“I want to be in that weight division to challenge myself,” he said.
Superlek correctly predicted that Haggerty would beat Lobo. He travelled to Bolton to face Haggerty in 2018 and the fight was stopped by a doctor during the break between rounds two and three, when the British fighter suffered a cut above his right eye.
While Haggerty has talked about wanting a break after fighting twice in the space of three months, Superlek wants to face the Englishman as soon as possible.
“I could fight in the next month or two,” he said. “I have recovered since my last fight and my body is ready. I am ready.”
Superlek’s plan to move up in weight might not go down well with the ONE Championship matchmakers. He is coming off two flyweight fights that will be remembered for years to come and both Rodtang and Takeru would clearly be in the market for a rematch.
