Nabil Anane admits he learned a lot from the first loss to Superlek: “Losing, it wasn’t easy”

Nabil Anane learned a lot from his loss against Superlek.

Today, the 6'4" Algerian-Thai sensation has established himself as a bona fide star inside the Circle. It's hard to imagine that just two years ago, he was making his promotional debut against none other than 'The Kicking Machine' himself, Superlek.

Anane was stopped by Superlek just past the two-minute mark of the opening round, but instead of sulking, Anane chose to use it as motivation.

"Losing, it wasn’t easy," Anane said during an appearance on Nickynachat. "But, you know, you have to learn sometimes or lose to get better. Although I was very sad, didn’t [want to] do to much, after I was sad, I started working harder."

Now, Anane is on a seven-fight win streak and currently reigns as the ONE interim bantamweight kickboxing world champion.

He also avenged his first and only loss inside the Circle at ONE 172 in Japan, decisively defeating Superlek and setting the stage for a trilogy fight between the two warriors.

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Nabil Anane's evolution over the last two years has been truly impressive

After his loss against Superlek, Nabil Anane slowly started to build his way back, stacking wins against Nakrob Fairtex, Muangthai, and Kulabdam.

But Anane really started to turn the corner when he outworked former ONE world title challenger Felipe Lobo at ONE Fight Night 24. The victory signaled that Anane was ready for the next level of competition, and he got exactly that less than two months later.

ONE Friday Fights 81 saw Anane square off with Lethwei legend Soe Lin Oo. It was a tough task for the 21-year-old, but he delivered yet another lights-out performance, defeating the Myanmar star definitively.

A few months after that, Anane shocked the world with his first-round knockout against Nico Carrillo at ONE 170—a victory that brought him full circle and right back to Superlek.

With Anane and Superlek deadlocked at 1-1, are you excited to see two of the best strikers in all of Muay Thai square off for a third and final time in 2025?

If you missed any of the action, you can watch the full ONE 172: Takeru vs. Rodtang replay on demand via watch.onefc.com.