Scotland’s knockout artist Nico Carrillo is the current WMO Welterweight Champion and Muay Thai World 65kg title holder. This Friday, he’s looking to add more gold to his collection when he clashes with Thailand’s Nabil Anane for the ONE Interim Bantamweight Muay Thai World Championship at ONE 170.
M&F sat down with “The King of the North” while in fight camp ahead of what is arguably the biggest bout of his career. And despite the hype, we soon found out that he’s taking the challenge seriously with 5 important training principles.
Nico Carrillo Started his Fight Camp Early
Fighting out of Glasgow, Scotland, 26-year-old Nico Carrillo has a dominating 27-3-1 record. But despite being undefeated in the ONE Championship promotion, he’s not resting on his laurels, and is taking the chance to become interim champion very seriously.
“It’s the reason that I started this journey,” says the combat star. “To be in the position I’m in now, fighting for the best title and the biggest promotion. It’s the creme de la creme. That’s the whole reason I took it so seriously.” Carrillo explains that six weeks is the standard timeframe for a fight camp. “However, for this fight camp, I started maybe 12 weeks out, so it’s by far the longest and hardest. Just because of the magnitude of the fight, leaving nothing to fate.”
Nico Carrillo Never Looks Past an Opponent
This Interim World title clash was scheduled because Carrillo’s original opponent and world champion, Superlek Kiatmoo9 pulled out with a knee injury. This means “The King of the North” must defeat 20-year-old Nabil Anane (30-5-1) before he can solidify the title against Superlek. The danger here is to look past his interim opponent. If he does so, he could find himself thrown out of the title picture altogether. It’s a trap that Carrillo has no intention of falling into.
“I’m focusing on [Superlek] later,” says Carrillo. “I’m an ‘all eggs in one basket’ kind of guy, so my full focus is on (Anane). Now, I’m getting that gold. That’s all of my focus. And when the time comes, I’m sure I’ll quickly move on to the next thing, but until (I beat Anane) that’s not going to happen.
Nico Carrillo has Been Working With Taller Sparring Partners
Another reason that Carrillo must focus on his next opponent is due to his sheer height. Nabil Anane is 6’4” and has a 78.7-inch reach. Carrillo is giving up 6 inches in height, so he’s bringing in taller sparring partners.
“I’m not going to be sparring people smaller than me,” he says, in order to replicate the mechanics of his upcoming fight. “I’m going to be punching up the way, in the fight, so for me to be punching down would be just stupid, so it is very important. You try and find people with the same body shape, same style (as your opponent) to mimic it. That is a very important part of training.”
Nico Carrillo relies on hard work over talent
With his immense speed and striking power, one wonders how much of Carrillo’s skill is God given, and whether he was born talented or has crafted his explosiveness in the gym. “Maybe I took to it quick. I was quite talented when I was younger, although where I am now is nothing to do with hard work,” he explains. “The punching power that I have now… I used to be a scrawny kid.”
Carrillo attributes his crushing blows to the time he has spent sweating it out in the gym. “Probably the most important thing for that is strength and conditioning,” he shares. “Having a coach who really knows the science behind how to get more explosive and powerful without putting too much muscle on. Honestly, that in itself is a fine art; perfecting that.” Carrillo shares that he likes to work on traditional lifts such as squats, deadlifts, and bench presses out of fight camps, but closer to bell time he works on his plyometric exercises. These moves, such as box jumps, lunges, and jump squats work by pre-stretching the muscle and tendons in preparation for the move. The body then stores energy as it readies itself for some explosive power. As you finally explode, the muscle lengthens, and you are propelled in your chosen direction. It is for this reason that plyometrics are a crucial exercise in combat sports.
Nico Carrillo sticks to the plan, no matter the sacrifice
To be the best in the world, you can only focus on the goal ahead. From his early start in boxing through to his success in Muay Thai, Carrillo says that there is nothing else in his crosshairs other than the task at hand: beating Nabil Anane to become the Interim World Champion so that he can solidify the title against Superlek. “There is no balance,” says Carrillo. “Eat, sleep, train, repeat is my life. I’ve lost friends, I’ve lost family members (due to his unavailability to hang out), I don’t care. I’m so focused on this goal that I can’t have a balanced lifestyle.”
If the hard work, commitment, and sacrifice pays off, Nico Carrillo is successful in his biggest fight yet, the victor will get his spoils.
ONE 170 will stream live this Friday, Jan. 24 from Impact Arena in Bangkok, beginning at 6:30am ET on watch.onefc.com and the ONE YouTube channel. Check your local time zone.
