ONE Championship: “You only truly fail when you quit” - Nico Carrillo says giving up was never an option for him despite heartbreak

ONE Championship featherweight Muay Thai phenom 'King of the North' Nico Carrillo of Scotland had one of the hottest stars in the world's largest martial arts organization, as he railed off four explosive knockout victories over the promotion's biggest names.

But after running into six-foot-four-inch-tall Thai-Algerian phenom Nabil Anane last January, Carrillo descended into a dark place that he had to pull himself back from.

Fortunately for the Scotsman, he's as tough as nails and was able to pull himself out of that funk.

Speaking on a recent guest appearance on Conor Malone's YouTube podcast, Carrillo talked about the lessons he learned in this difficult stretch of his career.

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'King of the North' said:

"Regret is a no-go. Failure, however, you only truly fail when you quit. So if you fall down and you get back up, you didn't fail, you learned. You try again. You fall down eight times, you get back up nine. When you don't get up, that's when you failed - when you throw in the towel."

Carrillo bounced back just months later, beating Thai icon Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong via second-round knockout after moving up to featherweight.

Needless to say, fans can't wait to see Nico Carrillo back in action in the ONE Championship ring.

Nico Carrillo is proud to have chosen the correct path after heartbreaking setback: "There's two sides of failing"

'King of the North' Nico Carrillo of Scotland says he is thankful that he chose to soldier on despite suffering his first defeat in the world's largest martial arts organization, one that sent him to a downward spiral.

He told Conor Malone how failure could have potentially affected his career:

"Failing isn't failing, failing is learning. But then you've got the other side of it where failing is quitting. So there's two sides of failing. People fail, they quit - it's too hard. People fail - it's just as hard as how the other person felt - but they'll learn from it and they'll pick themselves back up and they'll try again."

Stay tuned to Sportskeeda MMA for all the latest news and updates surrounding Nico Carrillo's next fight.

About the author

Dan is an MMA writer with 10+ years of overall experience. Before his ongoing tenure at Sportskeeda, Dan got the opportunity to be at the forefront of the sport by contributing to ONE Championship and Fight Game Asia. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology.

Dan’s connection to MMA started during the early days of the UFC and ONE Championship. He previously practiced boxing and ranks Demetrious Johnson, Anderson Silva, Georges St-Pierre, Jon Jones, and Fedor Emelianenko as the top five MMA fighters of all time.

He has covered several events onsite and on the ground for ONE Championship and hopes to continue doing so. He ensures that he churns out accurate articles by citing only legitimate sources and getting firsthand accounts through exclusive interviews whenever required.

Dan feels MMA fighter pay seems like an issue because it often gets compared to what fighters earn in boxing but that MMA will eventually catch up in the future.

His other interests include soccer and video games.

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Edited by C. Naik