Nabil Anane reveals Muay Thai wasn’t his first martial art growing up: “I was doing three sports at the same time”

Apart from his towering frame and pterodactyl-like length, interim ONE bantamweight Muay Thai world champion Nabil Anane is a nightmare to deal with because of his unorthodox style.

While the 21-year-old is a technical savant in the intricacies of 'The Art of Eight Limbs', he also adds his own unique spin to Muay Thai. Turns out, this seemingly hybrid approach comes from his early days practicing karate and taekwondo.

The Team Mehdi Zatout star pupil revealed in a ONE Championship interview:

“I was born here in Thailand, in Pattaya. At the age of 6, I started karate, and at 7, I started taekwondo. I was doing both at the same time."

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Nabil Anane continued:

“Then at 11, I started Muay Thai. At one point, I was doing three sports at the same time. But when I turned 11, I decided to stop karate and taekwondo to focus only on Muay Thai.”

Nabil Anane's blend of grace and devastating power is expected from someone with a black belt in both taekwondo and karate. The 6-foot-4 skyscraper even competed in lethwei before giving his full focus to Muay Thai.

Needless to say, it's the sport where the thrives the most, and we can't wait to see just how great Anane will be for years to come.

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Nabil Anane recalls his humble beginnings before becoming one of the world's best

Nowadays, Nabil Anane has attained well-deserved fame and fortune after rising to superstardom in the home of martial arts.

After all, it wasn't too long ago when the Thai-Algerian sensation was just a young kid dreaming of making it big. The interim bantamweight Muay Thai world champion told ONE:

“I was happy. I also got some money, and that made me really happy. I was very young at the time, and I realized I could already earn money. That gave me motivation. So I rested a little, then came back to training."

He added:

“When I was young, even a little money felt like a lot. A thousand baht (approximately US$30) was a lot for me back then.”

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Edited by Tejas Rathi