“Back in the motherland” - Scottish knockout machine Nico Carrillo hints that return to featherweight is imminent
Nico Carrillo is back in the lab and hinted that his next match in ONE Championship is imminent.
The Scottish knockout monster decided to leave the bantamweight and move up to featherweight following his recent loss to Nabil Anane for the ONE interim bantamweight Muay Thai world title earlier this year.
Taking to Instagram, Carrillo showed that he's back in Thailand and training at the famed Bangtao Muay Thai & MMA gym in Phuket.
Nico Carrillo posted:
"Fight announcement soon🕙👊🏻 Back in the motherland."
Carrillo was an unstoppable machine the moment he arrived in ONE Championship in April 2023.
Although he established his notoriety in the bantamweight division, Carrillo started his promotional run at featherweight when he battered Furkan Karabag for the brutal third-round stoppage win.
Carrillo then went on a three-fight winning streak in the bantamweight division with three consecutive knockouts against Muangthai PK Saenchai, former ONE bantamweight Muay Thai world champion Nong-O Hama, and Saemapetch Fairtex.
'King of the North' ultimately earned his shot at the bantamweight Muay Thai throne but Superlek Kiatmoo9 had to pull out of the fight after suffering an injury during training camp.
With Superlek out of the ONE 170 match, Anane stepped in to face Carrillo for the ONE interim bantamweight Muay Thai world title.
Although many observers believed Carrillo would take the gold, the complete opposite happened when Anane stopped him in the first round via technical knockout.
Carrillo has since opened up about his desire to move up to 155 pounds and fight in a division closer to his walking weight.
Nico Carrillo admits he can't make the bantamweight limit
He may have had the best run of his career at 145 pounds, but Nico Carrillo revealed that he couldn't physically make the bantamweight limit anymore.
In an interview with the South China Morning Post, Carrillo revealed he put his body through so much stress trying to make the division's cap:
"I've got a bit of a trauma from it. Honestly, I'll never ever put myself in that situation again. So I already knew while I was cutting weight that I wasn't going to fight Superlek, I couldn't do that to myself again. Just my body's changing."