Demetrious Johnson wants Kickboxing champion to transition to MMA and become the next Alex Pereira
02/19/2025 11:26 AM
Demetrious Johnson is hopeful that former Muay Thai and current Kickboxing world champion, Jonathan Haggerty will finally transition to MMA.
This Thursday, ONE Championship Bantamweight champion, Jonathan Haggerty will defend his title against Rui Wei at ONE 171 in Qatar.
The exciting British striker was also the promotion’s Bantamweight Muay Thai champion, however, he was dethroned by Superlek this past September.
For several years, the 28-year-old has teased a potential crossover to MMA and has always stated that it will inevitably happen.
Demetrious Johnson pushes Haggerty to make MMA crossover
ONE Championship was involved in the famous first-ever trade in MMA with the UFC as Demetrious Johnson was traded to ONE and Ben Askren went the opposite way.
Having consistently teased a crossover to MMA, Haggerty recently told Bloody Elbow that his preferred opponent would be former UFC champion, Sean O’Malley.
With ‘The General’ being one of the most talented kickboxers around, ‘Mightymouse’ has admitted that he would like the Brit to finally make his transition to MMA.
The former UFC champion believes that Haggerty could follow in the footsteps of former kickboxing champion and now UFC superstar, Alex Pereira.
“Why I haven’t transitioned to MMA yet is because I’m at the top. I’m at title contentions and I’ve got the belts, it is definitely something on my mind that I wanna do, I’ve been saying it for years,” Haggerty told DJ.
“I feel like you have the perfect structure for mixed martial arts and your stand-up is so good and I feel like that’s where the money is… I’m like, ‘I think Jonathan Haggerty can be a world champion in mixed martial arts too’,” Johnson replied to Haggerty.
Other kickboxers who successfully transitioned to MMA
Pereira is of course the most recent case study for a recent successful transition, as is his former rival, Israel Adesanya. However, there have been far more throughout the history of the sport.
Mirko Cro Cop successfully transitioned from kickboxer to MMA and made a name for himself as one of the most feared fighters in the sport throughout his UFC tenure.
Valentina Shevchenko also began her combat sports career in kickboxing before transitioning to MMA and becoming arguably the greatest female MMA fighter of all time.
With a win over Rui Wei this Thursday, Haggerty will open up several potential avenues, with MMA being the most demanded one.
