ONE Championship: Nico Carrillo says ‘Jonathan Haggerty’s trying to forget about me’
- Carrillo says he is the only opponent who should be challenging Haggerty for his Muay Thai belt
- ‘He’s trying his hardest not to say my name,’ Carrillo says. ‘He’s trying to forget about me but I’m number one’
Nico Carrillo was watching from his native Scotland when Jonathan Haggerty beat Felipe Lobo at ONE Fight Night 19 last Saturday. The Scottish fighter is No 1 in the bantamweight Muay Thai rankings and wants a shot at the champion.
Haggerty defended his belt for the first time by beating Lobo. Afterwards he talked about potentially moving to MMA to challenge Fabricio Andrade or taking on reigning flyweight kickboxing champion Superlek Kiatmoo9.
This was not exactly music to Carrillo’s ears. The 25-year-old told SCMP he is the only opponent who should be challenging Haggerty for his Muay Thai belt.
“I’ve worked my way up the rankings one by one, knocked them all down. If someone else jumps in, what’s the point of the rankings?”
While Haggerty sounded enthusiastic about the prospect of facing Andrade in an MMA fight and made it clear he was open to facing Superlek, there was no discussion of Carrillo. The Scottish fighter thinks that this might have been a deliberate strategy.
“He’s trying his hardest not to say my name. He’s trying to forget about me but I’m number one.”
Haggerty holds the bantamweight kickboxing title too and Carrillo wouldn’t be bitter if the Englishman ended up defending that belt next.
“(Hiroki) Akimoto deserves a shot at the kickboxing title because he’s number one. Somebody else shouldn’t jump in front of him.”
That fight was pencilled in for ONE 165 in Tokyo last month but Haggerty decided it was too quick a turnaround. While Carrillo thinks Akimoto deserves a chance he can’t understand why the two sport champion is so keen to compete in MMA.
“Nobody wants to see it, I’d rather watch paint dry. The Muay Thai fans don’t want to see their champion, Jonathan Haggerty, fight in an MMA fight.”
With both men hailing from the United Kingdom, they would have been familiar to one another before Carrillo signed with ONE Championship. The Scottish fighter says he has been following Haggerty’s career for years.
“Before I signed to ONE I watched every one of Haggerty’s fights and always cheered him on. I was a massive fan of his; I even went down to London sometimes to spar at Knowles Academy. He never showed up though.”
Carrillo saw Haggerty getting dropped in the first round by Felipe Lobo last weekend. He thinks it is a weakness in the champion’s game.
“I saw Haggerty getting hit by someone nowhere near as strong as I am. He’s not great on the back foot, look at the fight with (Vladimir) Kuzmin he just won that a lot of people thought should have gone the other way.”
Carrillo contrasts Lobo’s strategy with the one that Fabricio Andrade employed against Haggerty.
“Andrade just stood in front of him like a plank of wood but Lobo took the fight to Haggerty and he looked uncomfortable.”
He is coming off a second-round stoppage win over former ONE Championship bantamweight champion Nong-O Gaiyanghadao. Haggerty also beat the Thai veteran and Carrillo feels that the stars have aligned perfectly for a fight between the two Brits.
“We are the only people who have ever done that to Nong-O. It’s the only fight to make – even better, he’s English and I’m Scottish.”
There were murmurs that Nong-O’s career might have been coming to an end after the two knockout losses last year. But Carrillo expects him to beat Kuzmin at ONE 166 next month.
“I do not see how Kuzmin beats him. I think Nong-O will stop him with leg kicks.”
Carrillo also made it clear that this rivalry with Haggerty is not personal. He says that had Lobo won last weekend the Brazilian’s name would have been on his lips because his focus is exclusively on the belt.
“I’m not chasing names, I’m chasing gold. I am there to be the champion and Haggerty’s the one with the gold.”
With Haggerty holding two titles and eyeing up a third there are plenty of challengers out there for the Englishman. Carrillo feels that he is the outstanding candidate and is desperate for a shot at the ONE Championship Muay Thai belt.
