Champ Jonathan Haggerty Wallops Felipe Lobo in Thriller at One Fight Night 19

#ONEFridayFights19 highlight video: Jonathan Haggerty clobbers Felipe Lobo pic.twitter.com/ZZT4dKNwQe

— Sherdog (@sherdogdotcom) February 17, 2024

Kickboxing and muay thai champ Jonathan Haggerty is already looking to a new horizon: mixed martial arts.

One Championship made sure to put one of its stars on the marquee of ONE on Prime Video 19, allowing two-sport champion Haggerty (22-4, 8-2 ONE) to defend his 145-pound muay thai throne. Aggressive challenger Felipe Lobo (22-9, 3-2 ONE) was not remotely afraid of the man with the hefty gold belt, and gave Haggerty everything he had for two-plus rounds until Haggerty found the finishing blow in the form of a devastating right hand.

As Haggerty calmly fired off body kicks from a safe distance in the early going, Lobo grew tired of absorbing the blows and crashed the pocket with fiery fists. The Brazilian laid into the champ with a lengthy surge of punches, stringing body shots into more to the head until he sat Haggerty down on his seat on the low ropes, officially ruled a knockdown by referee Olivier Coste. Haggerty made it to the second round, and once that bell sounded, he flipped the switch. The Brit turned the tides by blasting Lobo with a long chain of unanswered blows, putting Lobo on the proverbial ropes until he drilled Lobo with a left hook that put the challenger down. With 90 seconds left in the round, Haggerty did not want to let his man off the hook, chasing him down with everything he had, including several spinning elbows. Just when Lobo seemed out of it, he surged into action, with momentum shifts on full display as the two fought tooth-and-nail through the wild second round.

A fearless Lobo exited his corner, pointing at the champion to open the third round, but he soon realized his cardio reserves did not match his ambitions. The relatively composed Haggerty kept Lobo at bay, absorbing a few leg kicks but coming out none the worse. As Lobo measured up, the champion intercepted him with a right hand from the depths of Hades. Lobo hit the ground on his seat, and as he turned over in hopes of standing, his legs completely betrayed him. Seeing the lights were on, but no one was home, Coste waved off the fight 45 seconds into Round 3, and a feeble protest from Lobo was soon abandoned when he struggled to stand without toppling over.

Haggerty jokingly suggested renaming himself from “The General” to “The Bonus Boy” after earning another $50,000 post-fight check from the promotion. Ever looking ahead, the Brit pitched an idea where he would switch over to MMA to try to win the title from former foe Fabricio Andrade.

#ONEFridayFights19 highlight video: Saemapetch Fairtex shows Mohamed Younes Rabah what time it is pic.twitter.com/H0pG60N9nr

— Sherdog (@sherdogdotcom) February 17, 2024

The co-main attraction brought together a muay thai rematch from December at 145 pounds, as undefeated Algerian Mohamed Younes Rabah (13-1, 1-1 ONE) stunned Saemapetch Fairtex (127-20-1, 9-5 ONE) with a first-round stoppage in that meeting. Right from the opening bell, it was clear that this result would not be duplicated. The shorter Saemapetch found his range in a hurry and charged towards Rabah, dropping his foe with a blistering left hand and catching him on the way down with a borderline soccer kick not called by referee Coste.

Rabah beat the count, only to get sent back down to the mat seconds later courtesy of a powerful one-two from the Thai. Although Rabah recovered a second time, he was never back in the fight, scarcely throwing anything back the other direction. Saemapetch was a man possessed, stalking Rabah down until he clubbed his man with a lengthy combination that shook the unbeaten fighter to his core. Rabah tried to clinch up to save himself and stay on his feet, but Saemapetch disengaged as Rabah collapsed to the mat on his face. Coste called off the one-sided drubbing at 93 seconds of the opening stanza, awarding the Fairtex representative sweet revenge while handing Rabah his first defeat.

The 127th win of Saemapetch’s lengthy career proved especially lucrative, as he earned a post-fight bonus check for $50,000.

Earlier on the main card, the heavy hands and effective wrestling from Lito Adiwang (16-5, 10-3 ONE) made the difference against Danial Williams (6-3, 3-5 ONE) after three hard-fought rounds. Less than 90 seconds in, the 125-pound Adiwang displayed the power his mullet granted him by sending Williams crashing to the canvas with a fierce right hand. Plenty of overswinging and subsequent looping strikes from Adiwang allowed him to shut down his opponent, and the chin of “Thunder Kid” absorbed a ferocious knee with seconds left in the fight to reach the final bell. Adiwang is now in rarified air with the victory, having prevailed 10 times with the promotion since making his way to ONE Championship through its Warrior Series in 2018 and 2019.

Nauzet Trujillo (49-10, 1-1 ONE) pulled off the biggest betting upset of the evening as a nearly +300 underdog against Britain’s Liam Nolan (22-8, 4-4 ONE). Trujillo started slow in their 170-pound muay thai clash but grew in momentum and confidence to sway all three judges in his favor. The Spaniard floored his taller opponent with a tomahawk elbow early into the second round, smashing Nolan’s nose and drawing blood. Trujillo celebrated the first win of his ONE tenure with a unanimous verdict over the 26-year-old nicknamed “Lethal.”

Related » ONE Fight Night 19 Round-by-Round Scoring

In preliminary action, Hiroyuki Tetsuka (13-4, 5-1 ONE) snatched up a textbook armbar of Abraao Amorim (9-5, 1-2 ONE) at 4:57 of Round 1 of their 185-pound affair; Luke Lessei (7-1, 1-1 ONE) escaped by the skin of his teeth with a split decision win over Eddie Abasolo (14-6, 1-3 ONE) after a bloody 155-pound all-American muay thai rumble; late replacement Martyna Kierczynska (5-0, 1-0 ONE) made the most of her opportunity by bulldozing “Wondergirl” Nat Jaroonsak (35-18-2, 3-4 ONE) with a relentless barrage of $50,000-earning strikes 1:24 into the second round of their 125-pound muay thai encounter; Mansur Malachiev (12-1, 2-1 ONE) outworked former 125-pound champ Yosuke Saruta (21-12-3, 3-4 ONE) to pick up the nod on all three scorecards; the card kicked off in style with a 125-pound muay thai banger as Thongpoon PK Saenchai (79-24, 1 NC; 4-0, 1 NC ONE) dropped Timur Chuikov (11-5, 0-1 ONE) three times in 97 seconds en route to a technical knockout and a $50,000 bonus check.