Newly crowned undisputed ONE bantamweight Muay Thai world champion Nabil Anane of Algeria and Thailand has just been recently elevated to ‘full champion’ status, and the phenomenal 21-year-old is feeling very nostalgic.
The Team Mehdi Zatout standout was emotional after gaining status as the complete champion, following an extended reign as interim king stemming from January.
Anane looked back at his journey to ‘the art of eight limbs’ and recalled competing in his first-ever professional fight at age 11.
Speaking to ONE Championship in a recent interview, Anane talked about the first time he ever stepped into the professional Muay Thai ring.
Anane said:
“I don’t really remember his name, but I remember the fight. I was 11, and he was 15. He had probably 20 fights already, but it wasn’t a very hard fight for me. He kicked my leg a lot, and the next day, my leg was in pain. But I won, so it’s OK. But it was a hard fight.”
Anane captured the interim Muay Thai gold at ONE 170, where he defeated pound-for-pound great ‘King of The North’ Nico Carrillo via first-round TKO.
Nabil Anane is widely considered the best bantamweight Muay Thai fighter in the world today, but the Algerian-Thai phenom is humble enough to admit that he did not get to this point in his career on his own.
Instead, the 21-year-old gives full credit to his father for guiding him through Muay Thai when he was younger.
Speaking to ONE, Anane said:
“He let me do what I wanted. And I wanted to do Muay Thai. When I chose Muay Thai, he told me, ‘If you choose this, go 100 percent into it.’ I didn’t have any choice left because I chose this, so now I must focus on it. And he was 100 percent behind me.”
Stay tuned to Sportskeeda MMA for all the latest news and updates surrounding Nabil Anane’s next fight.
