ONE Championship star Nico Carrillo on new division & training with Georges St-Pierre

Following his first ONE Championship loss against Nabil Anane at ONE 170 in January, Nico Carrillo is moving up a division to face Sitthichai at ONE Fight Night 30.

“King of the North” stopped the first four opponents he faced in ONE before coming up short in his last outing. Ahead of his return, Carrillo spoke with MMA KO’s Drew Beaupré about life in a new division, training with MMA legend Georges St-Pierre, and some stunning results at ONE 172 last month.

Nico Carrillo returns this week at ONE Fight Night 30. | (ONE Championship)

Moving Up To ONE's Featherweight Division

Set to move up to 155 lbs. at ONE Fight Night 30, Carrillo relished the fact that a significantly smaller portion of this camp was focused on weight cutting and admits that maybe the change should have come even sooner.

“Things are looking much better for me now. I feel like I maybe clinged onto that 145 [weight class] for just one fight too much, and I paid the ultimate price for it. So I’m just really looking forward to showing my skillsets against at the higher weight, and just really just filling into this weight.”

Nabil Anane defeated Nico Carrillo in his last outing at ONE 170. | (ONE Championship)

"I do feel bigger now...and obviously I am going on a little bit of a cut now and stuff, it’s just instead of doing it for six weeks I’ll only have to do it for one week. But even today in training… I thought to myself, ‘I fought with this every single day for six weeks when I fought Nabil.”

Matchup With Sitthichai & Training With Georges St-Pierre

Carrillo will jump right into the deep end of the 155 lbs. division against Sitthichai, and “King of the North” is excited for the opportunity to try and add huge name to his resume.

“Obviously, Sitthichai is like eight-time world champion in GLORY, you name it. Lumpinee, everything. He’s a bit of a legend status, isn’t he? He’s just such an amazing striker. I’m just looking forward to just getting right back into the deep end with one of the big cats in the division, and just testing myself. I feel I’ve got a lot to prove.”

Sitthichai will welcome Nico Carrillo to a new division at ONE Fight Night 30. | (ONE Championship)

The 26-year-old also had the chance to train with another huge name during his camp for ONE Fight Night 30, as he linked up with UFC Hall of Famer Georges St-Pierre in Thailand and got to show “Rush” a thing or two about Muay Thai striking.

“It was just amazing to meet such a GOAT. I know a lot of people say ‘Don’t meet your heroes,’ but Georges St-Pierre’s definitely someone that you do want to meet. He was humble, down to Earth, just an absolute sound guy. And no ego, just wanted to learn. So, I just took him through a Muay Thai session, and yeah – it was fun, and an honor to work with him.”

Massive Results At ONE 172 & Possible Rematch With Nabil Anane

ONE Championship is coming off a massive ONE 172 card that took place at Saitama Super Arena in Japan. Among a number of other notable results, Carrillo’s former opponent Anane defeated Superlek and Masaaki Noiri upset ONE Featherweight Muay Thai Champion Tawanchai in a kickboxing title bout.

“What a card, I’ll tell you the truth – I thought Nabil was gonna beat Superlek, and I’m not just saying that cause ‘Oh he beat me’...There’s no bad blood between us. I’m really happy for him, I’m rooting for him now. And I did think that Nabil was gonna beat Superlek, especially once I'd seen Superlek’s body. I don’t know if Superlek overlooked Nabil and thought he was in for an easy night or something, I’m not sure. But I did think Nabil was gonna win. Tawanchai, however, I was shocked. I was absolutely shocked.”

Masaaki Noiri defeated Tawanchai in a major upset at ONE 172. | (ONE Championship)

“I don’t know how much weight [Anane] cuts, so right now he’s just the perfect 145er. Obviously that height, it’s just difficult to get near him. But I feel like he’s really filled into that body, ‘cause he looked a little bit – he is really skinny, it’s just his genetics, but he looks thicker than he did. And obviously he’s only 20 years old, so yeah – I think it’s inevitable that he is gonna come up to 155, and in the future, 100% – I would like to welcome him to 155. But right now, he’s doing his thing at 145. He’s doing absolutely amazing, and when the time comes, the time comes. I’m in no rush to get revenge on Nabil or anything. I feel like when you seek revenge you’ll have a very unhappy life. It takes over your life. So I choose not to look for revenge and just move on and just be on another journey.”

Nabil Anane bested Superlek in their rematch at ONE 172. | (ONE Championship)

"Epic Comeback" At ONE Fight Night 30

With a significant challenge in front of him at ONE Fight Night 30, Carrillo isn't letting himself get too caught up in thinking about chasing a belt. Instead, he's focused on enjoying the opportunities presented by a new weight class and what could be an extremely busy 2025.

“Honestly, I’m not gonna shout about titles or nothing like that, I’m just enjoying the journey, enjoying the process, enjoying fight week...Looking back on it, I’ve never enjoyed any of it, ‘cause I was so miserable weight cutting. And now I just feel like a new lease on life, and I’m just gonna enjoy the process, enjoy it all, enjoy being part of such big cards, and actually soak up the atmosphere. I feel like I never did do that before. But, my biggest thing now is I don’t have to do massive weight cuts anymore, so I want to be super active. If ONE Championship honestly gave me the opportunity to fight every second month, I would do it. They already reached out to me for June, but I’m getting married. So as soon as I get married, I’ll hit the ground running again and I want to stay super active. I’m talking every second month fight if I could.”

Nico Carrillo hopes to maintain an active schedule in his new weight class. | (ONE Championship)

“Everybody who supported me in the last one, and just all the nice messages and stuff I got, I really appreciate it. And now I’m out here looking for redemption, so tune in and watch an epic comeback.”

ONE Fight Night 30 goes down on Friday, April 4 at Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, and fans in the United States can catch all the action on Prime Video.

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