Second-ranked ONE bantamweight Muay Thai competitor Nico Carrillo has produced an impressive body of work during his ONE Championship tenure. His next quest, aside from becoming the new king of the division, is to learn Thai.
In a sit-down interview on the Leather'd Podcast, 'The King of the North' revealed that he has been taking classes to learn the Thai language, saying:
"I actually took a few lectures on it. I don't like going three or four levels. But yeah, I was just putting all my eggs in the basket again. Once you go half in and half out then it's difficult. I just told myself, I was going to go for a lecture three times a week for Thai. I think I could be fluent in it for a year. And I think that's about the same mindset for anything else in life."
Watch the entire interview below:
Get the latest updates on One Championship Rankings at Sportskeeda and more
The Deachkalek Muay Thai Academy product will compete for his first ONE world championship, the ONE interim bantamweight Muay Thai crown, against the towering Nabil Anane at ONE 170 on Jan. 24, inside the Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand.
Carrillo was originally supposed to challenge flyweight kickboxing and bantamweight Muay Thai king Superlek Kiatmoo9 for the 145-pound Muay Thai crown. However, the promotion recently announced that 'The Kicking Machine' suffered an injury to his knee and will be unable to compete.
Nico Carrillo eyeing two-division glory
Nico Carrillo wants to make the most of his opportunities in ONE, including potentially moving up to the stacked 155-pound featherweight Muay Thai division and challenging the reigning Tawanchai PK Saenchai.
Carrillo declared his intentions in an interview with ONE:
"I also have aspirations to move up and challenge Tawanchai for his featherweight gold, too. I think everyone would love to see that fight."