Nico Carrillo does not want more kickboxing keep-busy work after his successful ONE Championship debut in the ruleset.
Carrillo stopped Zhou Jiaqiang at 2:37 of round two at ONE Fight Night 46 inside Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok. The win came after a rough opening round, but Carrillo hurt Zhou to the body in round two, poured on punches, and forced the count. Carrillo’s knockout win gave him an immediate kickboxing result to pair with his Muay Thai title run.
The result was already one major step for the ONE featherweight Muay Thai champion. His message after the fight was more specific: another kickboxing bout only makes sense if Superbon Singha Mawynn‘s title is attached.
Carrillo Wants A Belt Attached
Asked backstage if he was uninterested in any other kickboxing fights unless they were for the belt, Carrillo answered, “That’s correct. Um, I want to defend my belt. I want I want to fight for championships. And if they give me the offer to fight for the championship in kickboxing, then yes. But I’m not taking any more fights.”
The Superbon route may not be immediate. Superbon has been dealing with injury issues, and ONE still has to sort out his next challenger. Carrillo accepted that the cleaner short-term path is probably back to Muay Thai.
When Tom Keogh’s name came up after social-media chatter, Carrillo dismissed the idea because Keogh is not currently on ONE’s roster.
“He’s not even signed,” Carrillo said. “He can’t even be in my head. He’s not signed.”
Carrillo then kept the wider challenger stance simple: “I fight anybody that ONE Championship want me to fight. I always have, always will. Fought the best of the best and I beat the best. That’s it.”
The Scottish striker also said he had not pushed ONE for a specific next opponent before the Zhou fight because the immediate assignment came first.
“No, but I will now because I was focusing on this fight,” Carrillo said. “I’m a professional athlete. Focus on what’s ahead. And now that this is out the way, that will be now what’s my focus to see what’s next.”
Muay Thai Defense Looks Like The Priority
Carrillo became undisputed ONE featherweight Muay Thai champion when Tawanchai PK Saenchai vacated the belt in July. He previously won the interim title against Shadow Singha Mawynn in February, then used the Zhou fight to stay active while the title picture settled.
That does not mean he wants activity for its own sake. Carrillo framed the issue as money, title status, and the reward for becoming champion.
“It’s not as long as they find me an opponent, it’s not worrying,” Carrillo said. “It would be worrying if they’re like really like, ‘Oh, we can’t get you anything.’ And like, because I’m a prize fighter. I want to fight for my championship wages. I don’t want I don’t want these kickboxing side fights to stay active. I want to fight. I work so hard to become the champion and get paid like a champion. So, I want to reap the benefits of that. You know what I mean?”
Carrillo also wanted an in-ring interview after the knockout. He said the issue was not mainly about a bonus, but about using the moment to thank his team and supporters after a statement win. Stella Hemetsberger’s main-event title defense closed the same Lumpinee card later that night.
“I love all my fans. I love all the Thai fans. I love everybody,” Carrillo said. “I would just like to say that when the champion knocks someone out, I would at least like a bit of ring time to at least speak on an interview. Not nothing about the bonus, but I just I just feel like the champion should at least get a minute or two on the mic to at least thank my thank my team, thank my people, thank the fans that are watching. I just got rushed out the ring, so I wasn’t best pleased with that.”
“I’m putting on a show. I always steal the show when I come here,” Carrillo continued. “I’m doing the back flips. I’m knocking people out all the time.”
Then he made the point again: “I would just at least like the an interview just to thank my people. And I didn’t get that. So, I’m not I’m not happy with that.”
Carrillo is now 28 and already holds ONE’s featherweight Muay Thai belt. The next step is whether ONE books a first undisputed title defense before the end of 2026, waits on the Superbon kickboxing option, or gives him another contender from the Muay Thai division.
For now, his position is clear. The Zhou knockout is part of the story, but the belt is the filter for what comes next.
