Nong-O to make MMA debut soon

[Enriko davidson]

I heard Nong O and Petboonchu have been learning mma for a year and working as trainers at Evolve MMA in Singapore. He will be making MMA debut in One Championship at 65kg very soon and Petboonchu a little later. Really excited about this if its true. Deserves its own thread. What you guys think?

 

[UWanaPlayDaGame]

ONE FC owner is the owner of Evolve Gym too so I've been expecting some of these guys to move to MMA at some point. Sagetdao is 2-0 already with two KOs.

I don't expect big things though. at most they could become ONE FC champions with friendly matchmaking but in order to have a sucessful career at elite level a fighter has got to start training MMA at a much younger age.

 

[Snubnoze707]

When's the last time Nong-O even fought Muay Thai? It's always some Thai relics making that MMA "transition"...

 

[Julius_Caesar]

I don't expect big things though. at most they could become ONE FC champions with friendly matchmaking but in order to have a sucessful career at elite level a fighter has got to start training MMA at a much younger age.

MMA's a little different to MuayThai in the stadiums and pro Boxing. Legal age to turn pro is 18 and most start a lot older. There's a UFC LHW contender called Jimi Manuwa who doesn't live to far from me. He started training and competing at 27 with no fight experience before that. He made his UFC debut at 33.

A lot of MMA guys come from one specific fighting sport and they're no longer prime in that sport but still manage to have success in MMA. When it comes to striking Nong O is 20 years ahead of everyone else and not just a regular 20 years. The highest of levels. He's also been at Evolve for a while now so probably knows a good amount of grappling. His career might not go any further than ONE FC but depending on how serious he is he very much could go further. Dejdamrong is 38 and still looks fit and healthy. Nong O will be 38 in 7 years. A lot can be done in that time.

But still Nong O is not ideal. Evolve need to bring in a young Thai.

 

[Snubnoze707]

Aight @Julius_Caesar is banned from using any "past his prime" excuses...

 

[UWanaPlayDaGame]

MMA's a little different to MuayThai in the stadiums and pro Boxing. Legal age to turn pro is 18 and most start a lot older. There's a UFC LHW contender called Jimi Manuwa who doesn't live to far from me. He started training and competing at 27 with no fight experience before that. He made his UFC debut at 33.

A lot of MMA guys come from one specific fighting sport and they're no longer prime in that sport but still manage to have success in MMA. When it comes to striking Nong O is 20 years ahead of everyone else and not just a regular 20 years. The highest of levels. He's also been at Evolve for a while now so probably knows a good amount of grappling. His career might not go any further than ONE FC but depending on how serious he is he very much could go further. Dejdamrong is 38 and still looks fit and healthy. Nong O will be 38 in 7 years. A lot can be done in that time.

But still Nong O is not ideal. Evolve need to bring in a young Thai.

IMO Nong-O being that geat at muay thai is a detriment to an mma career at this point. you don't let go of old, sucessful habits and pick up new tricks with a few years of grappling training.

Manuwa was able to do that because combat sports above 185 pounds are dead. he wouldn't be able to do it at 170 and below.

 

[SuperLuigi]

Well its not realistic that we will get a 20 year old stadium champion in MMA so Petboonchu, Sagetdao and Nong-O is basically the best we could possibly hope for. I'm most interested in Petboonchu to see how he integrates his clinching with MMA. Nong-O will probably score some crazy KOs and get the most hype.

 

[AbeRudder]

Yeah you could do a lot worse than Nong O, he looks to be in good shape to and fighting at a suitable weight. Tbh I'd rather see him in kickboxing where i'd favour him over anyone at 65kg.

 

[jtwarwagon4life]

Legal age to turn pro is 18

That can't be right.