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.”