Strawweight King Jonathan Di Bella Tips His Hat To Jonathan Haggerty After The Tokyo Knockout At ONE Samurai 4

TOKYO, ARIAKE ARENA. Mate, when one world champion stops to applaud another world champion, you pay attention. ONE Strawweight Kickboxing World Champion Jonathan Di Bella has been watching Jonathan Haggerty's work at ONE Samurai 4, and he's rapt.

Here's the scene. Saturday, October 17. Haggerty defends his ONE Bantamweight Kickboxing World Championship against former titleholder Hiroki Akimoto. It's over at 42 seconds of round three: a right hand, a knee, then a closing burst that ended the night. That moves Haggerty to 4-0 in kickboxing and 25-5 overall, and it earned him a US$100,000 performance bonus from Chatri Sityodtong. Absolute scenes.

Di Bella told ONE Championship he always figured Haggerty would win, just not like that. "That was a nice knockout," he said, adding that Haggerty made it look easy and has the momentum. His read on the bigger picture: he's seen Haggerty better as a kickboxer, and reckons he should stay in the division.

And Di Bella isn't just watching from the couch. He's said he's ready for Wang Junguang, the bloke who recently upset Prajanchai at The Inner Circle 35 and has eyes on his belt. ONE hasn't confirmed that one yet.

At press time, two Jonathans were still holding two belts and nobody in the pub could tell which one you meant.