Nabil Anane banking on his youth and lanky frame to best veteran Petchtanong at ONE Fight Night 26

Nabil Anane isn't under any illusions heading into his final fight of 2024, which has been a breakout year for the rising star. The 20-year-old competitor showed clear promise from the moment he arrived in ONE Championship, but he's really starting to capitalize on it now.

He has produced three incredibly impressive wins and performances this year to emerge as a top contender in the bantamweight Muay Thai division. However, for his next outing at ONE Fight Night 26 on Dec. 6, he will make the switch over to kickboxing for the first time in his career.

At Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, he will take on a former world champion of the division in Petchtanong Petchfergus, who recently returned to action with a big win over Alaverdi Ramazanov.

In a recent interview with ONE Championship, the fifth-ranked bantamweight Muay Thai contender had no issue admitting that he is up against it in this fight on paper. However, he believes that he holds clear advantages over his opponent in two specific areas that no amount of training or experience can balance out.

Nabil Anane spoke in a recent interview with ONE Championship about his thoughts on the bantamweight kickboxing matchup, saying:

"His strengths are better than mine in every way, especially fighting experience. His two weaknesses are his age and his height."

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Nabil Anane is excellent at using his range

As Nabil Anane pointed out in his interview with ONE Championship, his height is a crucial part of this fight.

Petchtanong doesn't believe that this will be an issue for him to counter once they meet at Bangkok's Lumpinee Stadium. However, overcoming the height and reach difference between them is far easier said than done, and that's something that Nabil's previous opponents have found out about.

His fight against former title challenger Felipe Lobo, in particular, proved this as he completely controlled the encounter from start to finish.