From Retirement to a ONE Championship Title Shot: Suakim's Remarkable Comeback Story

The 30-year-old faces former ONE Bantamweight Muay Thai World Champion Nabil Anane in the main event of The Inner Circle 25 on Friday, August 7, broadcasting live on live.onefc.com. The winner earns a guaranteed shot against the division’s reigning titleholder, Rambolek Chor Ajalaboon.

Suakim's path to this moment is one of the more remarkable comeback stories in ONE Championship. He retired from Muay Thai in 2019 as a three-division Lumpinee Stadium Muay Thai World Champion, walking away from a sport that had given him everything.

He was lured back four years later when ONE Championship Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong personally invited him to compete at ONE Friday Fights, and the early returns were humbling.

Suakim Admits Comeback Training Was So Brutal He Felt Like Crying

Returning to professional competition after years away is never straightforward, and Suakim has been candid about just how physically demanding the early stages of his comeback truly were.

"When I first came back, the training was brutal. Even as a grown man, there were times I felt like crying because my body just wasn't used to it. As time went on, the camps got tougher," Suakim said.

The 156-60 career record that defines Suakim's professional legacy was built across years of elite competition on Thai stadium circuit, but years of retirement had taken a toll that only hard work could reverse.

Striking Veteran Was Ready to Give Up After Two Knockouts

The two knockout losses that opened his ONE Championship account brought him to the edge of walking away again. A different fighter might have taken them as a sign that retirement had been the right decision. Suakim made a different choice.

"Early on, my form was terrible. I couldn't take a hit and got knocked out twice. I was ready to give up, but I decided to give it one more shot, and things just took off from there," he explained.

Two knockout losses in his first three promotional bouts nearly ended the comeback before it had a chance to build momentum. Instead, Suakim found something deeper and has not lost since April 2024, riding a seven-fight winning streak that has turned him into one of the bantamweight division's most credible title challenger.

Suakim Calls His ONE Championship Win Streak the Best Run of His Career

The seven-fight winning streak Suakim has assembled in ONE Championship has surpassed anything he produced during the peak years of his Lumpinee career. That is a remarkable statement from a three-division Lumpinee Stadium World Champion.

"This win streak is probably the best stretch of my entire career. Even back when I was fighting five-round Muay Thai at Lumpinee or Rajadamnern, I never put together a run like this. It feels even better than a dream," he said.

A win over Anane on August 7 would add the most significant scalp of that run and deliver a title shot that seemed impossible when Suakim was sitting in a gym feeling like crying after training. The comeback that Chatri's invitation started, and Suakim's refusal to give up sustained, reaches its biggest moment yet at The Inner Circle 25.

Watch The Inner Circle 25 exclusively on live.onefc.com beginning at 7:30 a.m. ET/4:30 a.m. PT.