Thai striking sensation Superlek Kiatmoo9 underlined his greatness by capturing a second championship, in a second sport, at a second weight class, with a stunning quickfire knockout of Jonathan Haggerty at ONE 168 in Denver, Colorado.
ONE Championship had brought their circle across the globe to the United States, and the battle between Haggerty and Superlek for Haggerty’s ONE bantamweight Muay Thai world title was expected to deliver fireworks. But few could have expected such a quick decisive finish as Superlek claimed a remarkable victory at the Ball Arena.
The finish came after just 49 second of the first round, as Superlek ducked under a Haggerty right hand and countered with a powerful short elbow that sent the Englishman down to the canvas. Haggerty wasn’t able to return to his feet and show the referee he was ready to go before the official finished his count, and the bout was waved off to give Superlek, already the ONE flyweight kickboxing world champion, the ONE bantamweight Muay Thai crown.
The night’s other big British star also ended up on the losing end, as English Muay Thai legend Liam Harrison went out on his shield after a typically wild back-and-forth war with Thai legend Seksan Or Kwanmuang.
As expected, the pair went toe to toe from the opening bell in their 140-pound catchweight clash and, while Harrison certainly gave plenty for Seksan to worry about, it was the Thai’s strikes that started to mount up as Harrison began to show signs of damage heading into the second round.
With Seksan loading up, “The Man Who Yields to No One” began to break down England’s “Hitman,” and eventually earned the TKO finish with three second-round knockdowns to earn the TKO victory.
Also on the card, former two-division ONE world champion Aung La N Sang’s hopes of a victorious return were cut short by Shamil Erdogan, who finished “The Burmese Python” with ground and pound mid-way through the second round of their 213.75-pound catchweight contest.
And there was a big win for MMA veteran John Lineker, who put his “Hands of Stone” to good use as he knocked out Asa Ten Pow in the second round on his ONE Muay Thai debut.
ONE 168: Official results
- Superlek Kiatmoo9 def. Jonathan Haggerty via knockout (elbow) – Round 1, 0:49 – for ONE bantamweight Muay Thai world title
- Seksan Or Kwanmuang def. Liam Harrison via TKO – Round 2, 1:49 – Muay Thai
- Shamil Erdogan def. Aung La N Sang via Tko (ground strikes) – Round 2, 2:48
- John Lineker def. Asa Ten Pow via knockout (punch) – Round 2, 2:50 – Muay Thai
- Victoria Souza def. Alyse Anderson via unanimous decision
- Isi Fitikefu def. Hiroyuki Tetsuka via unanimous decision
- Adrian Lee def. Nico Cornejo via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 2:37
- Johan Ghazali def. Josue Cruz via knockout (punch) – Round 1, 3:00 – Muay Thai
- Johan Estupinan def. Sean Climaco via TKO (strikes) – Round 2, 1:28 – Muay Thai
