Tawanchai PK Saenchai no longer holds the ONE featherweight Muay Thai title, and Nico Carrillo no longer needs the interim label.
ONE Championship announced on Tuesday that Tawanchai has officially vacated the belt while he continues to rehab an injury. Carrillo, who already held the interim title, has been elevated to undisputed ONE featherweight Muay Thai world champion.
That is a major reshuffle in one of ONE’s most violent striking divisions. Tawanchai’s run with the belt was not a quiet reign. He won the title at ONE 161, defended it against Jamal Yusupov, twice beat Superbon while holding the Muay Thai crown, and also beat Jo Nattawut across two different rule sets during his stretch at the top.
The issue now is availability. ONE’s announcement says Tawanchai is still in an extended rehab process after the injury he suffered in his December 2025 kickboxing loss to Liu Mengyang. Rather than keep the division frozen, the promotion moved the belt forward and gave Carrillo full champion status.
BREAKING 🚨 Tawanchai vacates the ONE Featherweight Muay Thai World Title to focus on his recovery, and Nico Carrillo is elevated to undisputed World Champion. 👑 We wish Tawanchai a speedy return. 🙏 pic.twitter.com/oSeNUtCWrf
— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) July 21, 2026
Carrillo Gets The Full Belt
Carrillo earned the interim title earlier this year against Shadow Singha Mawynn at ONE Fight Night 40. The Scottish striker entered that fight with a reputation for pressure and finishing instinct, then left it with enough gold to put himself at the front of the line.
Now he gets the cleaner title. Interim belts can feel like placeholders until the original champion returns. This one is different. Carrillo is the undisputed champion, and every featherweight Muay Thai contender in ONE has to aim at him.
The timing also keeps his schedule busy. ONE says Carrillo is set for his kickboxing debut against Zhou Jiaqiang at ONE Fight Night 46 on Aug. 14 at Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok. That means the new undisputed Muay Thai champion is immediately stepping into a second sport instead of settling into a long victory lap.
That matters in ONE, where two-sport title runs are not just marketing language. The promotion has built a lot of its star power around fighters crossing between Muay Thai, kickboxing, MMA, and submission grappling. MiddleEasy has covered how much friction that model can create around ONE’s relationship with Muay Thai, but it also gives champions like Carrillo a fast route to bigger stakes.
Tawanchai’s Division Moves On
For Tawanchai, the move does not erase what he built. He still leaves behind one of the defining modern runs in featherweight Muay Thai, and his wins over names like Petchmorakot, Yusupov, Superbon, and Nattawut are enough to keep him in any serious conversation about the best Muay Thai fighters of the modern era.
It does, however, change the shape of his return. When Tawanchai is healthy enough to compete again, he will not be coming back as the sitting champion defending a belt that waited for him. He will be returning to a division that has already moved its title picture through Carrillo.
That is the right kind of tension for ONE. Carrillo gets legitimacy now, contenders get a champion they can chase now, and Tawanchai still has a ready-made title story if his rehab leads him back into the same lane.
The featherweight Muay Thai belt has changed hands without a fight this week, but the division did not lose momentum. It just handed the spotlight to Carrillo and made Tawanchai’s eventual next step feel even more interesting.
