Liam Harrison was on the precipice of history when he finally got his crack at the ONE Bantamweight Muay Thai World Championship in 2022. A leg injury suffered during the title tilt with Nong-O Hama stripped away the momentum and halted his career.
At ONE 167, Liam Harrison “Hitman” will return in a bantamweight collision with Katsuki Kitano. Finally, getting back to the spotlight has challenged Harrison, who is grateful for his upcoming return to action.
“This sport is the highest of the highs and the lowest of the lows. I say this all the time. The fight before [the injury against Nong-O], I fought Muangthai. I knocked him out in the first round, it got voted Fight of the Year, five knockdowns in the space of 90 seconds. I got a $100,000 bonus from that fight,” Harrison told ONE.
“Then the next fight I leave on a stretcher and get put in the back of an ambulance. So what can you do? You’ve got to suck it up and be able to come back strong. And that’s what I’m doing.”
Knowing his time near the top of the division is coming to an end, Harrison struggled with his return. However, it was less of a physical struggle and more about the impact the recovery had on his mind.
“It was very hard mentally to come back from this, especially as an older athlete. I had to push the boundaries of my mental strength. Luckily, I had a great rehab team behind me and great support from my family and friends,” the Brit stated.
Forced to change his way of training while injured, the British star has seen different impacts on his game, so much so that he anticipates an even more dangerous “Hitman” to wow audiences on June 7.
“When I was injured and out for the injury, all I worked on was explosive movements and things like that. So I changed my training, changed up a lot, and I feel like I’ve come back stronger than I was before,” Harrison commented.
For Harrison, it is less about chasing the gold and more about the love of the sport. The 38-year-old, quite simply, loves to compete.
Fully healthy, Harrison is ready to step back into action and throw leather in the hopes of stealing the show in Bangkok.
“Now I’m back to training like I was before. Getting lots of hard, hard sparring rounds in because, obviously while I’ve been out with injury, that’s what I missed. So I’m getting all that locked in now. I’m sparring with some real heavy hitters, some real sharp guys, and I’m just enjoying it,” Harrison said.
“I was in pain all the time. The main thing is now I’m not. And I’m enjoying it again. So it’s gonna be good to be back.”
ONE 167 airs live on Friday, June 7, from the Impact Arena in Bangkok. The action begins at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on watch.onefc.com.