“I don’t mind being proved wrong” - Liam Harrison admits he’s glad Nabil Anane continues to defy his expectations

Liam Harrison admitted that he wasn't entirely sold on Nabil Anane, but that stance changed quickly. In an interview with Nick Atkin, Harrison said he's proud of the ONE interim bantamweight Muay Thai world champion for proving him wrong after securing two pivotal career wins in ONE Championship.

Anane captured the division's interim crown when he stopped Nico Carrillo in the first round of their ONE 170 meeting in January in Bangkok.

The 6-foot-4 phenom then scored a huge unanimous decision win over Thai megastar Superlek Kiatmoo9, the ONE flyweight kickboxing world champion, at ONE 172 this Sunday in Saitama.

Liam Harrison said:

"So yeah, you know what, fair play to Nabil, because I wrote him off against Nico. I thought Nico would be too strong, but like I said, I don’t mind being proved wrong, especially when it’s a performance like that."

Despite his towering height advantage over the competition, Anane doesn't rely purely on his range, and his victories over Carrillo and Superlek were proof of that evolution.

Anane displayed an uncanny ability to dictate pace and clocked Carrillo with pure venom to drop the Scottish knockout machine three times in a single round at ONE 170.

The Thai-Algerian sensation then showcased another layer to his improvement when he beat Superlek in Japan.

Anane moved forward with unrelenting pressure and capitalized on Superlek's mistakes when 'The Kicking Machine' failed to cut the distance.

After forcing Superlek to the backfoot in the first round, Anane pushed the pace and scored a stunning knockdown that proved vital to earn all three of the judges' nods at ONE 172.

---

Liam Harrison says Superlek was out of his element against Nabil Anane

Nabil Anane only lost to one person in ONE Championship, and that fighter is Superlek Kiatmoo9.

However, the Superlek Liam Harrison watched at ONE 172 was a far cry from the marauding striker who schooled Anane at ONE Friday Fights 22.

Harrison said in the same interview with Atkin:

"Because in round three, I think he could sort of tell that he didn’t want to be there. He would just move going through the motions, Nabil was miles ahead and Superlek wasn’t even trying. He wasn’t kicking, there was no game plan or anything."

Watch Harrison's entire interview below: