‘Gaming Helps Me Relax My Mind’ – How Teenage Sensation Yonis Anane Draws Inspiration From Arena Of Valor, Hunter X Hunter
At just 18 years old, Yonis Anane is already one of the most exciting young Muay Thai fighters on the planet.
The youngest-ever WBC Muay Thai World Champion has recorded nearly 50 professional victories and quickly emerged as one of the faces of the sport’s new generation.
The Team Mehdi Zatout phenom will face Freddie Haggerty in a highly anticipated strawweight Muay Thai showdown at The Inner Circle on Friday, May 22. The blockbuster event airs live exclusively for members via live.onefc.com from Bangkok’s legendary Lumpinee Stadium.
Outside the ring, however, Anane is still very much a part of Gen Z.
Fresh off finishing school and growing up fully immersed in the digital era, the younger brother of former ONE Bantamweight Muay Thai World Champion Nabil Anane spends much of his downtime doing exactly what many teenagers around the world do — playing mobile games, scrolling through social media, and watching anime.
The French-Thai striker is also well known for his close friendship with fellow Team Mehdi Zatout athlete PTT Apichart Farm. According to Anane, gaming has become one of the absolute best ways for him to mentally reset from the nonstop grind of elite-level training.
He said:
“I play with PTT a lot, and it’s fun. I play every day before sleeping.
“Gaming helps me relax my mind. If you get angry, you make mistakes. Staying calm is better. It’s similar to Muay Thai.”
That mindset may sound simple, but for Anane, it directly translates to his approach inside the ring.
The teenage striker recently suffered the first setback of his ONE Championship career in a thrilling firefight against Zhao Zhengdong at ONE Friday Fights 147 this past March. Since then, the young star has spoken candidly about learning to stay calmer and avoiding the trap of fighting emotionally under immense pressure.
Oddly enough, he firmly believes gaming teaches similar, highly applicable lessons. When he is not training, sparring, or recovering from grueling sessions, Anane often jumps into Arena of Valor, known as Realm of Valor in Thailand, with his teammates.
Just like his fighting style, his in-game approach is anything but passive. He vastly prefers playing aggressive attacking roles rather than sitting back as a support character.
He added:
“I play attacker. I don’t like healer characters because they’re too weak.
“I like Raz because he’s like a Muay Thai boxer. I like his attacks.”
Gon Freecss And The Anime Character Yonis Anane Relates To Most
Beyond mobile gaming, anime has also become a massive pillar of Yonis Anane’s life away from the heavy bags.
While his older brother, Nabil, is widely known as a massive One Piece fan, Yonis prefers timeless classics like Hunter x Hunter and Bleach.
For the teenage striker, however, one specific character stands head and shoulders above the rest: Gon Freecss.
Created by legendary manga artist Yoshihiro Togashi, Hunter x Hunter follows Gon’s epic journey as a young boy searching for his missing father while growing stronger through unbreakable friendships, daunting challenges, and perilous battles against increasingly dangerous opponents.
The series has become one of the most universally beloved anime franchises in the world, particularly among Gen Z fans, thanks to its emotional storytelling, iconic characters, and deep themes of loyalty, perseverance, and self-improvement.
Anane sees many of those exact qualities in Gon himself.
The 18-year-old explained:
“Hunter x Hunter is my favorite because it was my first anime.
“I like Gon because he’s brave, he never gives up, and he’s kind. I think he’s like me. I like his motivation.”
Rather than relying on reckless aggression, Anane has painstakingly built his reputation through supreme composure, surgical timing, technical precision, and an in-ring maturity far beyond his years. Those elite qualities continue to make him one of the brightest teenage martial artists in Muay Thai today.
Anane also enjoys comparing the people around him to characters from Hunter x Hunter, noting that his older brother reminds him most of Leorio Paradinight.
Much like the outspoken and fiercely protective Leorio in the anime, Nabil has consistently acted as both a supportive older brother and a mentor figure throughout Yonis’ fighting journey — expertly guiding him through rigorous training, life in Thailand, and the immense pressures of competing on the global stage at such a young age.
Like many diehard anime fans online, Yonis is also patiently waiting for new Hunter x Hunter episodes to drop, despite the series’ notoriously long hiatuses.
He concluded:
“I finished watching all episodes already. I’m waiting for new episodes, but I don’t think they will come soon.”
