Nico Carrillo may have wreaked unspeakable chaos in the bantamweight division, yet he feels he wasn't at his best dropping to the weight class.
The Scottish knockout monster has abandoned his exploits in the 145-pound class and returned to his more natural 155-pound division at ONE Fight Night 30.
Carrillo will take on Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong in a featherweight Muay Thai matchup on Friday's stacked card at the iconic Lumpinee Stadium.
In an interview with Nick Atkin, Carrillo said he's happier and in a better mental state making the featherweight limit than when he was cutting down to his leaner bantamweight version.
Get the latest updates on One Championship Rankings at Sportskeeda and more
Nico Carrillo added that he loved scoring highlight-reel wins, but the journey almost often left him drained.
"Much happier, man. Just, the journey for me is important. Looking back, I hated the journey at bantamweight. I love the wins, the wins were amazing, and you’d get the win and you just want to do it again," he said.
Carrillo made his ONE Championship debut at featherweight when he knocked out Furkan Karabag at ONE Friday Fights 13, but he found a niche at the lighter bantamweight class and scored three more knockout wins.
'King of the North' racked three consecutive victories over Muangthai PK Saenchai, former ONE bantamweight Muay Thai world champion Nong-O Hama, and Saemapetch Fairtex. His run ultimately led to a shot at the ONE interim bantamweight Muay Thai world title, but he fell victim to Nabil Anane via first-round stoppage.
Since the defeat, Carrillo has been honest about the exhausting process he went through to make the bantamweight limit and decided to move back to featherweight.
ONE Fight Night 30 is available live and free to all Prime Video subscribers in the United States and Canada.
Watch Carrillo's entire interview below:
Nico Carrillo is locked in for his featherweight Muay Thai matchup against Sitthichai
Nico Carrillo can immediately cement his status in the featherweight Muay Thai division if he can take down Sitthichai.
The Thai legend is a multi-time Muay Thai and kickboxing world champion and ranks as the number five contender in the featherweight Muay Thai class.
In the same interview with Nick Atkin, Carrillo said he's determined to erase the bitter memory of his defeat to Anane and rediscover his terrifying magic at ONE Fight Night 30.
"Absolutely. I don't know if I hate losing more than I love winning. I'm unsure. But all I know is that I don't want to lose again."