‘He Didn’t Want To Be There’

Liam Harrison thinks Superlek should have never fought at ONE 172.

ONE Championship’s highly anticipated return to Japan was set to feature five massive ONE world championship bouts, including a title unification clash between ONE bantamweight Muay Thai titleholder Superlek and interim champ Nabil Anane. However, Superlek failed to meet the hydration requirements for the fight. As a result, Superlek was stripped of his 26 pounds of gold.

Typically, the fight would move forward as scheduled, but with only the athlete who made weight and hydration eligible to win the belt. That was not the case this time around. Instead, the contest was renegotiated as a three-round catchweight fight.

No explanation was offered until the ONE 172 post-fight press conference, when CEO Chatri Sityodtong revealed that Superlek “refused to fight” a five-rounder with gold up for grabs.

‘The Kicking Machine’ ultimately went on to fight, delivering the most lackluster performance of his run in ONE. He came up short on the scorecards, surrendering a unanimous decision to Anane and seeing his 12-fight win streak snapped.

“Listen, I spoke to a few people in Superlek’s camp, and I don’t think he should have taken that fight,” Harrison told the Bangkok Post. “I’m not gonna go into the reasons why, but I spoke to a few people. It’s not my place to say or anything, but I don’t think he should have ever been fighting. 

“He proved that in his performance. Now whether he was 100 per cent or not, would he have beaten Nabil that night or not? I don’t know, because Nabil looked unbelievable.”

Superlek previously defeated Nabil Anane in his promotional debut at ONE Friday Fights 22 back in June 2023. Originally, ‘The Kicking Machine’ was supposed to defend his bantamweight Muay Thai title against Nico Carrillo at ONE 170 in January, but an injury forced him to bow out of the bout. Anane took his place, squaring off with Carrillo for the ONE interim bantamweight Muay Thai title, the winner set to face Superlek inside the Saitama Super Arena.

Anane stunned ‘The King of the North,’ KO’ing Carrillo in the opening round, and set the stage for a rematch with the Thai superstar.

“Superlek’s my friend. I’m sure the reasoning will come out afterwards, but I don’t want to repeat what people who are close to him have told me,” Harrison added. “Round three, you could tell he didn’t want to be there. He was going through the motions. Nabil was miles ahead. Superlek wasn’t even trying. He wasn’t kicking, no game plan, but there’s reasons for that I’ve heard behind the scenes. 

“Hopefully, we get a five-round rematch and we see a hungry, fit Superlek because you know you always get a 100 per cent hungry Nabil these days. He’s young, he’s got all the support of the Thais and everything behind him – he’s gonna be hard to beat. Everyone loves him. He’s got a great coach with Mehdi Zatout.”

Harrison is unsure anyone can beat nabil anane right now, including superlek

Understandably, Anane was not too thrilled about beating Superlek only to leave with nothing more than another checkmark in the win column. During the press event, he could be seen having a fairly animated conversation with Chatri Sityodtong, though the details of their talks were never disclosed.

“I don’t know why he wasn’t just given a five-round fight and crowned champion,” Harrison continued. “He’s worked his a** off, and then to get it taken away like that at the last minute, I’m not quite sure what was going on until Chatri said afterwards Superlek wasn’t even gonna fight.

“Chatri is the boss and could have said, ‘Alright, don’t fight’, pay Nabil, not pay Superlek, and just upgrade him. But obviously they needed the fight on the card, so it’s a hard one. But hopefully we get treated to a five-round fight like we should now, and a 100 percent fit Superlek turns up firing on all cylinders.

“I’m not sure anyone in that division is gonna be able to beat Nabil. He’s an absolute nightmare. 100 percent Superlek probably can but anyone else I just don’t see how they’ll get near him and get past that snap on the end of his punches. If they do, they walk straight onto getting kneed in the face.”