Nico Carrillo quipped that his next opponent will be “my fiancee” with the ONE Championship star set to marry his “best friend” this summer.
The 26-year-old Scot made a successful move up to the featherweight Muay Thai division, finishing Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong via body shot TKO in the second round at ONE Fight Night 30 last weekend.
Victory will shoot the “King of the North” straight into the top five of the divisional rankings, opening up big future fights against Shadow Singha Mawynn, Jo Nattawut, Bampara Kouyate, Superbon – and possibly even the champion, Tawanchai PK Saenchai.
But asked my media backstage in Bangkok who he would face next, Carrillo showed his dry sense of humour.
“My next opponent is my fiancee, I’m getting married to her,” he quipped.
Carrillo and Aimee McIlhinney will tie the knot in Scotland in June, after postponing the wedding following a heartbreaking interim bantamweight title fight loss to Nabi Anane in January.
A US$50,000 bonus from chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong will certainly help pay for proceedings, too.
“I'm getting married to my best friend in the summer, and all my attention just needs to go to her now because she was there in my darkest times this year and she stood by me,” Carrillo told the Bangkok Post.
“She was my rock. I had a few hard conversations with her this year, and a lot of plans got cancelled this year because I had to come straight back out here, and she was with me the full time.
“So I just want to give back to her a little bit now.”
The first-round TKO defeat by Nabil at Impact Arena was also his first loss in six years, and first in ONE Championship, bringing a stuttering halt to his fast rise to the brink of gold.
“I'm just so grateful to be back in the winner's column,” he added. “That's all I can say, because every time I fight, I'm like, ‘Next, next, next, what's next, what's next?’
“I want to bathe in this win because it got stripped away from me the last time, and it was the worst feeling I've ever felt in my life. So this win, how I feel now, that's all I want to think about.
“I was fighting some demons after the loss to Nabil and I just kept telling myself that the sun will rise again. But in order to see the sun rise again, you need to get out of the shade, which is the demons.
“You need to escape them. They try to pull you in. They try to keep you comfortable. They don't want you to go out and do that again. They try to keep you safe.
“But in order to get this feeling, in order to do this kind of stuff, you need to shut that off. And it took a lot of mental resilience to do that. I'm not going to lie.”
It was that humbling loss to Nabil that convinced Carrillo to finally move up a division, after an increasingly difficult weight cut that left him feeling flat on the biggest night of his life.
Critics had blasted him as a “weight bully” – a one-trick pony with only power and no technique. But the decreased focus on losing weight also allowed Carrillo and coach JP Gallacher to get back to basics – and fix some holes in his game.
“I wasn't punching super hard this camp or anything,” he said. “I was doing a lot of kicking and clinching, just slowing stuff down, really.
“I did show them [the doubters], and I've not even said that yet, but I'm really happy that I have showed them as well.
“I'm pretty sure I've turned some more haters to fans again tonight.”
The 26-year-old Scot made a successful move up to the featherweight Muay Thai division, finishing Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong via body shot TKO in the second round at ONE Fight Night 30 last weekend.
Victory will shoot the “King of the North” straight into the top five of the divisional rankings, opening up big future fights against Shadow Singha Mawynn, Jo Nattawut, Bampara Kouyate, Superbon – and possibly even the champion, Tawanchai PK Saenchai.
But asked my media backstage in Bangkok who he would face next, Carrillo showed his dry sense of humour.
“My next opponent is my fiancee, I’m getting married to her,” he quipped.
Carrillo and Aimee McIlhinney will tie the knot in Scotland in June, after postponing the wedding following a heartbreaking interim bantamweight title fight loss to Nabi Anane in January.
A US$50,000 bonus from chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong will certainly help pay for proceedings, too.
“I'm getting married to my best friend in the summer, and all my attention just needs to go to her now because she was there in my darkest times this year and she stood by me,” Carrillo told the Bangkok Post.
“She was my rock. I had a few hard conversations with her this year, and a lot of plans got cancelled this year because I had to come straight back out here, and she was with me the full time.
“So I just want to give back to her a little bit now.”
The first-round TKO defeat by Nabil at Impact Arena was also his first loss in six years, and first in ONE Championship, bringing a stuttering halt to his fast rise to the brink of gold.
“I'm just so grateful to be back in the winner's column,” he added. “That's all I can say, because every time I fight, I'm like, ‘Next, next, next, what's next, what's next?’
“I want to bathe in this win because it got stripped away from me the last time, and it was the worst feeling I've ever felt in my life. So this win, how I feel now, that's all I want to think about.
“I was fighting some demons after the loss to Nabil and I just kept telling myself that the sun will rise again. But in order to see the sun rise again, you need to get out of the shade, which is the demons.
“You need to escape them. They try to pull you in. They try to keep you comfortable. They don't want you to go out and do that again. They try to keep you safe.
“But in order to get this feeling, in order to do this kind of stuff, you need to shut that off. And it took a lot of mental resilience to do that. I'm not going to lie.”
It was that humbling loss to Nabil that convinced Carrillo to finally move up a division, after an increasingly difficult weight cut that left him feeling flat on the biggest night of his life.
Critics had blasted him as a “weight bully” – a one-trick pony with only power and no technique. But the decreased focus on losing weight also allowed Carrillo and coach JP Gallacher to get back to basics – and fix some holes in his game.
“I wasn't punching super hard this camp or anything,” he said. “I was doing a lot of kicking and clinching, just slowing stuff down, really.
“I did show them [the doubters], and I've not even said that yet, but I'm really happy that I have showed them as well.
“I'm pretty sure I've turned some more haters to fans again tonight.”
