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Nabil Anane has started a new lane while keeping his ONE Championship career alive. The former ONE bantamweight Muay Thai champion is officially entering Thailand’s boxing selection process for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
The announcement came Friday, August 14, during a press conference at Evolve MMA in Bangkok, Thailand. ONE Championship framed the move as a joint push with the Thailand Boxing Association and the National Olympic Committee of Thailand.
Anane is still only 22, but his combat-sports resume is already unusual. He became ONE’s interim bantamweight Muay Thai champion, moved into the full title position, and has been part of the same ONE striking wave that recently put Nico Carrillo back in a kickboxing-title conversation.
Anane Will Chase A Boxing Spot Without Leaving ONE
The Olympic target is not a guarantee. Anane still has to go through Thailand’s formal national-team pathway, and the ONE announcement listed 65 kilograms or 70 kilograms as the likely boxing divisions for his bid.
The key detail is that he does not plan to pause his ONE schedule during the early stage of the campaign. That makes this less of a retirement-from-Muay-Thai story and more of a two-track gamble: keep fighting under the ONE banner while trying to win a place in Thailand’s Olympic boxing system.
Anane’s background makes the crossover less random than it sounds. ONE noted that he boxed heavily as a teenager before choosing Muay Thai, and his 6-foot-4 frame has always been one of the hardest physical problems in the division. That reach was already central to his rise, much like the pressure and finishing form that carried Stella Hemetsberger through her ONE Fight Night 46 title defense.
The press conference also included ONE Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong, Thailand Boxing Association president Pichai Chunhavajira, Thai Olympic Committee president Pimol Srivikorn, boxing technical chairman Pol Gen Samran Nualma, ONE Thailand president Jitinat Asdamongkol, and Anane’s longtime coach and manager Mehdi Zatout.
That cast matters because Olympic qualification is a federation process, not a promotional booking. Anane has star power in ONE, but he still has to earn a national-team place the same way every other Thai boxing hopeful does.
ONE has leaned heavily into Bangkok-based striking talent in 2026. Aslamjon Ortikov moved into title range through ONE Friday Fights, and Aliff Sor Dechapan won interim ONE gold earlier this summer. Anane’s Olympic push gives that pipeline a different kind of headline.
If he makes the team, Anane would arrive at LA28 as a rare case: an active ONE champion-level striker trying to convert professional Muay Thai range into Olympic boxing rounds. If he does not, the attempt still tells everyone where his ambitions are aimed.
