"I knew exactly when he was going for that" - Nico Carrillo says he found the timing of Saemapetch's dynamite left hand

Nico Carrillo came into ONE Fight Night 23 incredibly confident that he was going to get his hand raised at the end of the night.

That being said, at the very top level of competition, no one can be underestimated once the fists start flying.

Carrillo looked to maintain his undefeated record on July 5 by taking out veteran contender Saemapetch Fairtex.

The two bantamweight Muay Thai contenders met inside Lumpinee Stadium where the Scotsman maintained his position as the top ranked contender by stopping his opponent in the second round.

Carrillo spoke in a post-fight interview with the South China Morning Post about how his gameplan was focused around avoiding his opponent's left hand.

He says that taking this major asset away from Saemapetch was his key to victory this past weekend:

"Obviously coming into this fight, we knew that Saemapetch would come at you with his left hand. If you get caught with that then you'd get in trouble. When you're fighting these guys it's about taking their weapon away from them. When I was standing in front of him, I was just lasered on the timing of his left hand. I knew exactly when he was going for that."

Watch the full interview below:

---

Nico Carrillo put his power on display once again

Such is the elite level and game of inches that comes with contests like this one that even when being totally focused on it, Nico Carrillo was caught by his opponent's left hand.

The difference in this fight was that he was able to land his own power strikes more consistently and when they did connect, they hurt his opponent.

His finishing ability has been a stand out trait in all four of his appearances under the ONE Championship banner and this was the defining element on July 5.

The full replay of ONE Fight Night 23 is available on demand for Prime Video subscribers in North America.