“It's a failure in front of millions” - Nico Carrillo recalls tough fan backlash after loss to Nabil Anane

Nico Carrillo's devastating loss to Nabil Anane was more than a red mark on his record; it became an excuse for the public to make him an easy target for almost unwarranted criticism.

The Scottish knockout monster suffered a first-round knockout loss to Anane for the ONE interim bantamweight Muay Thai world title at ONE 170 in January this year.

The match was Carrillo's first defeat in ONE Championship, and he recalled the public backlash that came with the harrowing result mere moments after he left Impact Arena in Bangkok.

In an interview with Conor Malone, Nico Carrillo recalled the tongue-lashing he received online and how he learned to tune out the noise heading into his next match in ONE Championship.

He said:

"That's when you fail now, it's not just a failure, it's a failure in front of millions and millions of people. And slaughtering comes after it, and "he's not as good as he says he was" comes after it, and just so much critique comes after it. But statues weren't built and critiques weren't made of statues, you know what I mean."

Carrillo, who's 5-1 in ONE Championship, added:

"It's great men, it's people who are trying to stick out, doing unordinary things. That's when you see statues, you know what I mean. Amazing people. So it's important not to listen to the criticism. Criticism in your team is healthy. Outside of that, I don't care. I'm not listening."

Nico Carrillo ultimately returned to the win column when he went back to the featherweight class and knocked out the legendary Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong at ONE Fight Night 30 in April.

Watch the entire interview below:

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Nico Carrillo recalls the courage he had to muster to compete against ONE Championship's best

Nico Carrillo wasn't giving up on his dream for ONE Championship gold when he lost to Nabil Anane in January.

In just three months after staring at the floodlights against Anane, Carrillo was back inside the ring, knocking out Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong at ONE Fight Night 30.

In the same interview with Conor Malone, Carrillo recalled the emotional fortitude he had to channel in order to compete against the best fighters in ONE Championship.

He said:

"Your body says, Nico, never step in a ONE Championship ring again, you're going to get embarrassed in front of millions of people, don't do it. But the only way to build this confidence and the only way to get back out there is doing the thing. And that's what I had to do. I had to get out there and put all these negative thoughts to bed."