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Nico Carrillo is grateful that his training wasn't wasted after Superlek Kiatmoo9 pulled out of their ONE 170 matchup.
On Friday, January 24, Carrillo was supposed to challenge Superlek for the ONE bantamweight Muay Thai world title. Unfortunately, the two-sport world champion pulled out with an injury, forcing the promotion to find Carrillo a new opponent.
Carrillo had completed most of his training camp and hoped to remain on the ONE 170 event. Luckily, the number one-ranked contender was matched up against number five-ranked Nabil Anane for the interim bantamweight Muay Thai title.
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During the ONE 170 press conference, Carrillo had this to say about the situation leading to his fight against Anane:
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"When Superlek pulled out, obviously it was a bit of a blow. But thanks to ONE Championship for quickly salvaging the situation, and as soon as I found out that it was for the interim belt, honestly it was just business as usual for me. I was already in the country and I had already trained for eight, nine weeks, so I was just really happy that all that hard graft didn’t get put to waste and now I’m still getting to fight."
ONE 170 goes down inside the Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand. Friday's event featuring three world title fights, including Nico Carrillo vs. Nabil Anane, can be seen by North American viewers via watch.onefc.com.
Take a look at the entire ONE 170 fight card below:
Nico Carrillo plans to extend promotional knockout streak
Nico Carrillo has fought in ONE Championship four times, knocking out all of his opponents in the process. At ONE 170, Carrillo looks to extend his knockout streak and secure an undisputed title shot against Superlek.
As for Nabil Anane, the 6'4" bantamweight holds a promotional record of 5-1, including two wins by knockout. The Algerian-Thai striker has showcased significant improvements since moving up from flyweight to bantamweight.
Anane also has added motivation to face Superlek for a second time. The 20-year-old suffered a first-round knockout loss against the two-sport world champion at flyweight in his promotional debut in June 2023.
Watch the entire ONE 170 press conference featuring Carrillo and Anane below:
