Muay Thai icon Nong-O believes his pace did him justice in Kulabdam triumph: "This was a very important factor"

Nong-O Hama returned to the win column at ONE Friday Fights 58 with a performance that appeared to take it back to basics.

It was only just over a year ago that the ONE bantamweight Muay Thai world champion at the time was considered to be a dominant force in the division. The Thai veteran then suffered back-to-back knockout losses to Jonathan Haggerty and Nico Carrillo.

In his return at the start of the month, he took on knockout artist Kulabdam in another fight that had big risks for him inside the Lumpinee Boxing Stadium. However, the veteran was able to use all of his high-level experience to dictate the fight and stay a step ahead of his opponent at all times.

The former champion spoke about how being faster than before was a major focus for him in this fight, telling Sportsmanor about how that affected his game:

"I also worked a lot on my speed. I needed it to cut angles, punch faster, move faster, and land faster. This was a very important factor in my win over Kulabdam."

Watch the full interview below:

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Nong-O Hama showed that he still has miles in the tank

Another loss, especially a knockout, could have been a setback that Nong-O wouldn't be able to work his way back from.

At ONE Friday Fights 58, he showed that this veteran of the game isn't going anywhere just yet with a smart and calculated performance. Without feeling the need to go strike for strike with his opponent, the former world champion was able to showcase aspects of his game that might have been missing from his recent performances.

He kept himself safe and one step ahead of his opponent which left no room for debate once the fight went to the scorecards. Nong-O showed that he isn't done yet and a huge part of that was him being quicker than before after maintaining his focus in training camp.

ONE Championship fans can rewatch the full event replay of ONE Friday Fights 58 for free.