Nico Carrillo Recalls Exact Moment Muay Thai Helped Him Turn His Life Around – “I Remember the Smell and I Remember the Atmosphere”

Scottish knockout artist Nico “King of the North” Carrillo is now entering the final preparations for his pivotal Muay Thai clash against Thai fan favorite Saemapetch Fairtex at ONE Fight Night 23: Ok vs. Rasulov on Prime Video.

Set to go down live in U.S. primetime on July 5 from Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, that explosive matchup will be a chance for Carrillo – the #1-ranked bantamweight Muay Thai contender – to punch his ticket to a shot at gold.

Nico Carrillo talks about his life before Muay Thai

Although he now finds himself on the precipice of greatness and global superstardom, Carrillo’s life nearly went down an entirely different trajectory.

Born and raised in Glasgow’s toughest neighborhoods, he spent much of his early years narrowly avoiding trouble.

Carrillo’s first taste of combat sports came when he was 12 years old, and even though he showed plenty of promise, he was initially more drawn to other sports.

He recalled, “My first exposure was when I was 12. I started going to a boxing gym, albeit very inconsistently. I’d maybe been 10 times over the space of two years. But any time I went, they would put me in sparring and I would always get the better of some lads. 

“I think I was just quite gifted with my hands at a young age. But I never took it seriously. At the time I was playing football, that was my first love. I’d played that all my life, but I felt combat sports creeping its way into my life more and more.” 

Before long, though, the young Scot found his way into a Muay Thai gym.

“King of the North” quickly realized that the art of eight limbs was his true passion and he hasn’t looked back since, establishing himself first as Europe’s top fighter and now a world-class talent in ONE’s talent-laden bantamweight Muay Thai division.

“King of the North” was saved because of Muay Thai

Looking back, Carrillo says his life would have been much different had he not discovered Muay Thai that day, “I remember the smell and I remember the atmosphere. I remember the buzz I got after training. That day, I said to myself, this is what I wanna do with the rest of my life. 

“I fell in love with it more and more every day and had no trouble being consistent compared to boxing. 

“Muay Thai definitely saved my life. It put me on a different trajectory than all my friends at the time. If I was still hanging about with certain people, I often wonder where I would be or how I would’ve turned out.”