“A real struggle” - Nico Carrillo admits making bantamweight limit was ‘absolute torture’ despite dominance

Nico Carrillol has been the scourge of the bantamweight division for so long, but now, it's time for him to move on. He's done making life miserable for himself just to make weight. The wins were real, but so was the toll to his health. Now, he's rearing to go back into the Circle in peak form.

Looking back, the 'King in the North' opened up about how brutal life at bantamweight had been for him:

“Bantamweight was a real struggle," he told ONE Championship. "Looking back, it made me realize how mentally strong I was to make that weight for so long. But also how much torture I was putting myself through in order to get there.”

He was dominating at fight night, but the weeks leading up to it had been a real struggle. It was only a matter of time before his performance took a hit - and it happened at ONE 170, giving Carrillo his first promotional loss vs Nabil Anane.

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“Now I don’t need to cut” - Nico Carrillo feeling stronger than ever in transition to featherweight

Moving up a division is turning out to be the right move for Nico Carrillo. These days, things look and feel a lot better for him.

He told South China Morning Post:

"The beauty of this now is I want to stay really active. Before, couldn’t be so active because the weight cuts did take a toll on me and it was unhealthy to go fight with a weight cut. Now I don’t need to cut weight, so now I can fight regularly," he said.

With Carrillo now fighting at featherweight, the weight cut isn't part of the equation anymore - and that means staying sharper, more active, and actually enjoying fight prep again.

We'll see Nico Carrillo back in the Circle again at ONE Fight Night 30 against 'Killer Kid' Sitthichai on April 4. Stream it live on Prime Video with an active subscription.