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Thai-Algerian ONE interim bantamweight Muay Thai world champion Nabil Anane is fresh off arguably the biggest win of his young career, when he stopped multi-division and multi-sport titleholder 'The Kicking Machine' Superlek Kiatmoo9 last week.
Anane came into this fight a heavy underdog, but was able to dominate Superlek en route to a unanimous decision at ONE 172: Takeru vs. Rodtang in Japan.
ONE Championship bantamweight Muay Thai icon 'Hitman' Liam Harrison watched the fight from home, and thinks Anane should be recognized as the undisputed king now.
The English veteran told Nick Atkin:
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"I felt a bit sorry for Nabil. I don’t get why he wasn’t just crowned or given the five-round fight and then crowned champion. Obviously, he’s worked his a*s off, and then to get it taken away like that at the last minute, I’m not quite sure what was going on until what Chatri said afterward that Superlek wasn’t even going to fight."
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Superlek, the former divisional king, missed weight and was stripped of his belt on the scales. The interim titleholder, in this case Anane, would normally be elevated to regular undisputed champion. But that's not how things turned out.
Nabil Anane digs into Superlek for lack of professionalism: "He can’t even make weight"
To say that 20-year-old Nabil Anane is upset with his senior Superlek Kiatmoo9 for missing weight and squandering their world title rematch is an understatement.
The young champion wrote on Instagram:
"And BTW. I have a fight purse three to four times less than his, yet I invest in a nutritionist to be on point. Meanwhile, he can’t even make weight properly. This is what sacrifice is. This fight camp was during Ramadan. I lost 1 week of preparation to adapt to the schedule."
ONE 172: Takeru vs. Rodtang was broadcasted live from the iconic Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan last Sunday, March 23. Fans in the United States and Canada can catch a replay of the action on-demand via watch.onefc.com.
