Nico Carrillo says run to ONE gold and being divisional king has its own challenges: "It's both very difficult"

Nico Carrillo believes that rising to the top and being a champion both possess a set of unique challenges. The No.2-ranked ONE bantamweight Muay Thai contender has worked very hard to climb the ladder of contention to finally get the championship fight of his dreams.

On Jan. 24, 2025, 'King of the North' and newly-minted two-sport, two-divisional king, Superlek Kiatmoo9 are set to co-headline ONE 170 at the Impact Arena in Bangkok, for the coveted ONE bantamweight Muay Thai world title.

As their future showdown begins to build, Nico Carrillo is astounded by the amount of publicity this fight is getting, especially now that he's directly contending for the bantamweight Muay Thai throne:

"I'm already starting to get called out and stuff now," Carrillo began telling Leather'd Podcast.

He added:

"So yeah, I understand once you are the champion you have what everybody else wants...that's part of being a champion. They say that getting to the top is easy, mate. But I say it's not easy at all. But staying at the top is harder, it's both very difficult."

ONE 170 will air live on Friday, Jan. 24, 2025, on Prime Video for active subscribers in North America.

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Nico Carrillo fires up fans with war cry as he vows to become the new face of the bantamweight Muay Thai division

Nico Carrillo recently quoted a very popular war cry to express how excited he is to challenge Thai superstar Superlek Kiatmoo9 at ONE 170.

Since Carrillo joined ONE Championship, he's been demolishing every opponent in rapid KO or TKO fashion. 'King of the North' has certainly backed up the talk and he promises to do so again, when he lands his best shot against long-unbeaten superstar Superlek on Jan. 24.

Promoting their violent clash on his Instagram page, Carrillo cited the famous movie, "Braveheart" to rile up the fans for that very night.

"IT'S DESTINY TIME. AND THE NEW @onechampionship BANTAMWEIGHT KING. SEEING IS BELIEVING. IMPACT ARENA BANGKOK 24th JANUARY. THE VALIANT ONES ALWAYS WINS. ALBAAGUBRATHHH!!!."