ONE Championship chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong was more than impressed by Nabil Anane's clinical destruction of Scottish standout 'King of the North' Nico Carrillo last January.
Anane captured the ONE interim bantamweight Muay Thai world title with a first-round annihilation of the No.3-ranked divisional contender at ONE 170 in Bangkok. And according to ONE's head honcho, Anane has increased greatly in skill.
Speaking at the ONE 170 post-fight press conference, Sityodtong was all praise for Anane.
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He said:
"Yeah, I'm shocked. I mean, Nabil, you can see he's leveled up a lot. You can see his confidence has grown. And, you know, at six foot four, he's genuinely, amongst the very, very best in the world."
With the victory, Anane sets up a highly anticipated world title unification bout against reigning divisional champion 'The Kicking Machine' Superlek Kiatmoo9.
That fight goes down this weekend and will crown an undisputed king of the division.
Meanwhile, Carrillo has announced that he will be moving up to featherweight, having had difficulty making the bantamweight limit.
Nabil Anane and Superlek Kiatmoo9 throw down in bantamweight Muay Thai unification bout at ONE 172 in Japan
Six-foot-four-inch tall Algerian-Thai star Nabil Anane will attempt to unify the ONE bantamweight Muay Thai world championship against reigning titleholder 'The Kicking Machine' Superlek Kiatmoo9 of Thailand.
The two trade strikes in a five-round battle for the undisputed throne at ONE 172: Takeru vs. Rodtang, which is set to broadcast live from the iconic Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, this Sunday, March 23rd.
Fans in the United States and Canada can catch all the action live via global pay-per-view by visiting watch.onefc.com.
Stay tuned to Sportskeeda MMA for all the latest news and updates surrounding the event as it happens.
