WATCH: Superlek tries to joke with Nabil Anane but gets cold staredown instead at ONE 172 press conference in Tokyo

The excitement for ONE 172: Takeru vs. Rodtang is growing palpable as Sunday, March 23, draws nearer. One athlete entirely focused on his bout is ONE interim bantamweight Muay Thai world champion Nabil Anane.

The world's largest martial arts promotion recently held ONE 172's official pre-fight press conference and closed it out with staredowns between the event's featured athletes.

When it was time for Anane's staredown with ONE bantamweight Muay Thai and flyweight kickboxing world champion Superlek Kiatmoo9, 'The Kicking Machine' had to look up at the 6-foot-4 phenom. The two-sport king tried to play off the massive height difference, but he was only met with a piercing stare from the 20-year-old.

Check out the moment on the third slide of ONE's Instagram post below:

While highly uncharacteristic for the usually jovial Team Mehdi Zatout representative, there is reason behind his coldness.

In his June 2023 promotional debut, Anane was eager to make a name for himself by pulling off the upset against Superlek. However, Superlek leaned on his craftiness to produce the knockout win in the first round with a well-timed body blow.

ONE 172 will emanate from the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. The event will be available live on pay-per-view at watch.onefc.com.

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Nabil Anane beefed up his core to prevent a repeat showing against Superlek

In a recent interview with the South China Morning Post, Nabil Anane addressed the fans' concern about him getting put away again with a body shot from Superlek.

He said:

"I worked a lot on my core and did a lot for my abs. You can see on the Kulabdam fight, he hit me with so many body shots, and I was still there. I just worked on it a lot and I hope it doesn't end in the same way this time."

Watch the entire interview here: