Rambolek Chor Ajalaboon stood in the centre of Lumpinee Stadium with tears streaming down his face and the ONE Championship belt raised above his head.
For a moment, the 23-year-old looked almost unable to believe it himself.
Then Mitch Chilson’s voice cut through the noise.
“And new!”
Ramboelk drops Nabil Anane during the ONE Friday Fights 147 main event
The crowd roared, and Rambolek’s dream – the one he had spent years chasing through the unforgiving grind – finally felt real.
The Thai challenger pulled off one of the biggest upsets in recent memory on Friday night, dethroning heavily favoured bantamweight Muay Thai champion Nabil Anane by unanimous decision at ONE Friday Fights 147.
“My dream has come true,” Rambolek said in his in-ring interview with Chilson, fighting back tears. “I really spent a lot of time, and dedicated myself. I trained very hard every step I’ve taken in ONE.
“I’m quite speechless now, but finally my dream has come true.”
Rambolek celebrates his unanimous decision win over Nabil Anane at ONE Friday Fights 147
Even after head coach Superbon rushed over to celebrate with him and pose for pictures, Rambolek still struggled to hold it together. The tears kept flowing. Then, slowly, came the smile – the kind that suggested the scale of the moment had finally sunk in.
Almost nobody had seen it coming.
Anane had entered fight week as a heavy favourite, the towering Thai-Algerian champion widely viewed as one of the most dangerous young strikers in the sport. Since moving up from flyweight, he had looked close to untouchable – blasting through Nico Carrillo for interim gold, then dropping Superlek Kiatmookao in Tokyo on his way to being elevated to undisputed champion.
He had even stepped up to featherweight kickboxing on short notice and outclassed former K-1 champion Hiromi Wajima with ease.
But this week had been different.
Nabil Anane congratulates Rambolek after their title clash at ONE Friday Fights 147
Anane looked badly drained when he finally arrived at Thursday’s weigh-ins with just three minutes remaining. He passed hydration and made weight, but the usual ease of his cut had vanished. Fighting through Ramadan had clearly taken its toll.
His Venum Training Camp teammate Asadula Imangazaliev also struggled, failing hydration and becoming ineligible to win the vacant flyweight Muay Thai title later that same night. Head coach Mehdi Zatout told the Bangkok Post beforehand that preparing during the holy month while fasting had been “very hard” for both men, who refused to stop even during fight week.
Anane made no excuses.
Nabil Anane looks to land a flying knee against Rambolek at ONE Friday Fights 147
But in the ring he looked a shadow of the fighter who had ruled the division so imperiously over the past year. The snap in his punches was dulled. The usual zip was gone. Rambolek, by contrast, fought the perfect counter-attacking battle.
As Anane pushed the pace, Rambolek sat back, timed him, and made him pay.
He dropped the champion with flash knockdowns in the third and fourth rounds, sending a ripple through the arena each time. By the fifth, Anane was charging forward in search of a finish, but Rambolek stayed composed, kept him at bay and closed out a stunning decision victory that brought Lumpinee to its feet.
It was the crowning moment of a resurgence few would have predicted just two years ago.
Rambolek proudly notes on Instagram that he was the first fighter to earn a full-time ONE Championship contract through the Friday Fights series back in April 2023. But that breakthrough quickly lost its shine. He dropped his next two bouts, including a punishing third-round knockout loss to Asa Ten Pow in Singapore that left many wondering if he would ever fulfil his obvious potential.
He returned to Friday Fights, reset, and beat Soner Sen by decision in February 2024.
He has not looked back since.
Rambolek celebrates with his coaches, including Superbon (right) at ONE Friday Fights 147
Friday’s victory over Anane was his sixth straight win, and perhaps the most complete performance of his career. Before this, he had already upset another of Anane’s Venum teammates, Abdulla Dayakaev, by second-round TKO to force his way into the title picture.
Along the way, he has refined his conditioning, added muscle, and – crucially – solved the kind of weigh-in issues that once threatened to limit him. Training alongside Superbon and Nong-O at Superbon Training Camp has added polish to the raw talent.
Now, suddenly, the division is wide open.
Rambolek told Thai media backstage that there will “definitely” be another fight with Anane, and he may well be right. On full strength, the champion would surely represent a far more dangerous version of himself than the one who fought on Friday night.
Former champion Jonathan Haggerty, meanwhile, may also sense a path back to the belt after his injury-ruined clash with Anane in Tokyo last November fell through.
For Anane, it was the first defeat since his flyweight debut loss to Superlek years ago, back when body shots crumpled the teenager before he outgrew the division and rebuilt himself at bantamweight.
He handled it with perspective.
“Hello everyone. I lost, but it’s OK. It wasn’t my day,” he said on social media afterwards. “Fighting only has wins and losses. I did my best. I’ll be back. Every time I lose, I’ll come back stronger.
“Congratulations to Rambolek. You did great, man. You fought incredibly well. You were in the right position.”
That grace will only add to the appetite for a rematch.
But for now, the night belonged to Rambolek.
The underdog. The first ONE Friday Fights contract winner. The fighter who once looked lost, then found himself again.
And at just 23 years old, with tears in his eyes and the belt in his hands, he looked like a champion whose story may only just be getting started.
