How does Buakaw/Saenchai do in MMA?

[King Kimura]

Thai Fighters are thrown straight into Muay Thai at an early age to help their families and embrace chaos and punishment more than any discipline I've seen before. Monsters like Buakaw has his abdomen punched in bare knuckle by his teammate like it's nothing. And Saenchai is just a technical genius. Imagine these guys HYPOTHETICALLY got some takedown defence under their belt and competed in MMA? Sure I wouldn't throw them right into the UFC, maybe a Bellator, they specialise in freakshow fights plus the competition isn't that stacked. Put Saenchai against Demetrious Johnson in a kickboxing match and it would be one sided. However in MMA the odds are stacked against him. Put buakaw against Tyron Woodley or Donald Cerrone in a Muay Thai fight and it's the same scenario. I know you NEED to be well rounded in this game but just imagine that infamous cartwheel kick from Saenchai and Buakaws angry roundhouse flurries in the octagon.

 

[Deleted member 363827]

We will never know. Could be a hit or a miss. Kind of the same as putting muay thai champ in a boxing ring and history has shown us tgat we either get a champ or a journeyman.

 

[Liveforever67]

Who knows?! They would have to have started training long long ago.
Now, eventually their lack of ground game, I assume would be exposed.
Luckily, the stars aligned and they both chose the greatest fighting art of all time. Muay Thai!

But it does make me wonder....
What if Saenchai was born in New Jersey to a diabetic, racist Indonesian stripper who hated violence but was obsessed with soccer and hello kitty and took acid and drank a bottle of wine every Wednesday while pregnant? Would he still have become the Saenchai we know and love?
That is the REAL question!

 

[anorak]

It's a n interesting subject, would be good to see someone take a fighter like Superlek and get them in a science lab, with a S+C coach, nutritionist, grappling coach, the full works and see how he does.....