This Week in Muay Thai

[Snubnoze707]

Good example of how to properly promote your stuff on this forum without coming off like a spammer...

 

[triptych]

My g f just took up MT and she loves it.....her instructor says she's got a tuff elbow hit !!!!! Nice stuff up here !!

 

[Mickf]

There wasn't much Muay Thai I was interested in this week, so I wrote about my favorite Golden Age fight instead.

Wangchannoi vs Cherry: A Tapestry of Violence

The Golden Age of Muay Thai was a period between the early 80’s and mid 90’s when the sport was at its peak. Within that roughly 13 year period, Thailand’s Muay Thai produced a shockingly high percentage of the greatest strikers I have ever seen, including multiple boxing world champions and Olympic gold medalists.

When watching fights from the Golden Age, it’s immediately clear that it was a totally different game from today’s Muay Thai. The talent level was at an all time high, with a large well of strong provincial gyms developing fighters locally and feeding them into the major Bangkok stadia. Fight purses and interest from fans and gamblers was also peaking in this era.

You can feel all this in the action itself. The gloves are smaller, the boxing is better, the eyes, counters, and responsiveness of the fighters on another level from today’s game. The clinch was beautiful and continuous, with referees who would let exchanges play out for as long as they kept going and fighters who worked through them.

It should come as no surprise that the fights tended to be more enjoyable. The sport still had the narrative scoring structure which saw the fourth round as the fight’s climax, but the early rounds tended to be more of a true rising action than today’s Muay Thai, where the first two rounds are often thrown away and stalled out. Most of my favorite Muay Thai fights are from this period, but Wangchannoi vs Cherry stands out amongst the others for me.

Wangchannoi Sor Palangchai is an all-time great in Muay Thai. With five Lumpini championships and a Fighter of the Year award under his belt, he has one of the sport’s best resumes. He beat an impressive list of Muay Thai greats, many of them by knockout, including the excellent Namkabuan NongkeePahuyuth who he finished with a left hook in 33 seconds. Wangchannoi was one of the sport’s most ferocious Muay Mats. His punches were devastating, but the skill in his hands was even greater than the power.

Cherry Sor Wanich held the Lumpini 130lbs championship for 3 years, defending it against greats like Saencherng Pinsinchai and Superlek Sorn E-Sarn. He was a locking clinch fighter who looked to snuff out his man’s space on the inside and break their posture to tee off with knees. Today’s Muay Khaos focus more on locking in the clinch than working in transition, but the meta was geared toward transitional work in the Golden Age, and Cherry’s locking style was an outlier.

Their Wikipedia records (which may not be fully accurate, but they’re the best I’ve got) say that this fight took place in 1991, with Wangchannoi having just won the Lumpini 122lbs title and Cherry recently dropping his 130lbs title to Namkabuan. We’ll take this round by round, since there are a bunch of tactical shifts that demonstrate the narrative structure of Muay Thai in interesting ways.

Round 1 - The Setup
Wangchannoi came out hot from the opening bell, teeping Cherry into the corner without even giving him a chance to take center ring. He began applying his trademark pressure, walking Cherry down and putting heavy leather on him.

While Wangchannoi must have been one of the scariest fighters in all of Muay Thai, his aggression was always tempered and methodical. He pressures not by getting in his opponent’s face and constantly forcing them back, but instead by inching forward, occupying space directly in front of them and never relenting for even a second, letting his imposing presence do the work of convincing his opponents to make mistakes and open themselves up.

A consequence of the measured pressure is that he’s always in a strong position to throw power. He rarely gets caught between steps rushing, in fact more often that not it’s his opponent who is forced to break their positioning.



Wangchannoi used long stepping right hands to crash into the pocket. Once inside, he would open up with lovely combinations. Wangchannoi doesn’t flick out throwaway punches as a setup often, instead he probes, folds over his hips, and waits. Each strike he throws is distinct and legible, but his rhythm throws off opponent’s timing. He uses slight pauses the way many fighters use setup punches, building them into his combinations so that his opponent’s defensive reaction comes a split second too soon. You can see his tricky rhythm in the clip above while he manipulates Cherry’s guard, pairing inside attacks with outside attacks and high with low.

Cherry attempted to catch Wangchannoi coming forward with round kicks, but Wangchannoi was unmoved. In Muay Thai, kicks to the arms score, so the legs are typically used to block middle kicks. However, lifting the leg up to check takes you out of a strong punching stance. Wangchannoi prioritized being in position to hit over kick defense:



Instead of attempting to check every body kick, Wangchannoi would just take them on the arm and parry the kick across Cherry’s body. With Cherry’s feet now crossed and Wangchannoi in a strong stance, his parry gives him a chance to land a thudding power shot on an opponent out of position.

Taking kicks to land punches is not an even trade - the kick scores highly and the punch only scores if it shows a clear effect. Wangchannoi’s aim with this counter is not to subtly outpoint Cherry with half-speed counters, but to smash him with his right hand hard and consistently enough to signal to the judges that his punches are breaking Cherry’s composure, while signalling to Cherry that he should stop kicking if he wants to stop taking the right hand.

We also see some of the first clinch exchanges of the fight. Cherry looks to secure his left hand around the head elbow-deep to enter his lock, while Wangchannoi attempts to control his hands at range to prevent him from entering the clinch. When Cherry does get a strong control position, Wangchannoi moves to a bodylock, looking to squeeze all the space out of Cherry’s lock to avoid the knees, before turning or throwing Cherry.



One of the great things about the Golden Age’s smaller gloves is that they left room for punching in clinch transitions. Wangchannoi does a bit of that here, posting his head on Cherry’s shoulder to create just enough space that the right uppercut can sneak through. He then uses Cherry’s reaction to the uppercut to secure a bodylock and hit a twisting throw.

Continued Here

Good post and analysis. I agree with the point about the smaller gloves back in the day.
They should just bring back the old smaller boxing gloves instead of the mma gloves these days. It would stop the eye pokes while making boxing and boxing defence more important.

 

[UWanaPlayDaGame]

There wasn't much Muay Thai I was interested in this week, so I wrote about my favorite Golden Age fight instead.

Wangchannoi vs Cherry: A Tapestry of Violence

The Golden Age of Muay Thai was a period between the early 80’s and mid 90’s when the sport was at its peak. Within that roughly 13 year period, Thailand’s Muay Thai produced a shockingly high percentage of the greatest strikers I have ever seen, including multiple boxing world champions and Olympic gold medalists.

When watching fights from the Golden Age, it’s immediately clear that it was a totally different game from today’s Muay Thai. The talent level was at an all time high, with a large well of strong provincial gyms developing fighters locally and feeding them into the major Bangkok stadia. Fight purses and interest from fans and gamblers was also peaking in this era.

You can feel all this in the action itself. The gloves are smaller, the boxing is better, the eyes, counters, and responsiveness of the fighters on another level from today’s game. The clinch was beautiful and continuous, with referees who would let exchanges play out for as long as they kept going and fighters who worked through them.

It should come as no surprise that the fights tended to be more enjoyable. The sport still had the narrative scoring structure which saw the fourth round as the fight’s climax, but the early rounds tended to be more of a true rising action than today’s Muay Thai, where the first two rounds are often thrown away and stalled out. Most of my favorite Muay Thai fights are from this period, but Wangchannoi vs Cherry stands out amongst the others for me.

Wangchannoi Sor Palangchai is an all-time great in Muay Thai. With five Lumpini championships and a Fighter of the Year award under his belt, he has one of the sport’s best resumes. He beat an impressive list of Muay Thai greats, many of them by knockout, including the excellent Namkabuan NongkeePahuyuth who he finished with a left hook in 33 seconds. Wangchannoi was one of the sport’s most ferocious Muay Mats. His punches were devastating, but the skill in his hands was even greater than the power.

Cherry Sor Wanich held the Lumpini 130lbs championship for 3 years, defending it against greats like Saencherng Pinsinchai and Superlek Sorn E-Sarn. He was a locking clinch fighter who looked to snuff out his man’s space on the inside and break their posture to tee off with knees. Today’s Muay Khaos focus more on locking in the clinch than working in transition, but the meta was geared toward transitional work in the Golden Age, and Cherry’s locking style was an outlier.

Their Wikipedia records (which may not be fully accurate, but they’re the best I’ve got) say that this fight took place in 1991, with Wangchannoi having just won the Lumpini 122lbs title and Cherry recently dropping his 130lbs title to Namkabuan. We’ll take this round by round, since there are a bunch of tactical shifts that demonstrate the narrative structure of Muay Thai in interesting ways.

Round 1 - The Setup
Wangchannoi came out hot from the opening bell, teeping Cherry into the corner without even giving him a chance to take center ring. He began applying his trademark pressure, walking Cherry down and putting heavy leather on him.

While Wangchannoi must have been one of the scariest fighters in all of Muay Thai, his aggression was always tempered and methodical. He pressures not by getting in his opponent’s face and constantly forcing them back, but instead by inching forward, occupying space directly in front of them and never relenting for even a second, letting his imposing presence do the work of convincing his opponents to make mistakes and open themselves up.

A consequence of the measured pressure is that he’s always in a strong position to throw power. He rarely gets caught between steps rushing, in fact more often that not it’s his opponent who is forced to break their positioning.



Wangchannoi used long stepping right hands to crash into the pocket. Once inside, he would open up with lovely combinations. Wangchannoi doesn’t flick out throwaway punches as a setup often, instead he probes, folds over his hips, and waits. Each strike he throws is distinct and legible, but his rhythm throws off opponent’s timing. He uses slight pauses the way many fighters use setup punches, building them into his combinations so that his opponent’s defensive reaction comes a split second too soon. You can see his tricky rhythm in the clip above while he manipulates Cherry’s guard, pairing inside attacks with outside attacks and high with low.

Cherry attempted to catch Wangchannoi coming forward with round kicks, but Wangchannoi was unmoved. In Muay Thai, kicks to the arms score, so the legs are typically used to block middle kicks. However, lifting the leg up to check takes you out of a strong punching stance. Wangchannoi prioritized being in position to hit over kick defense:



Instead of attempting to check every body kick, Wangchannoi would just take them on the arm and parry the kick across Cherry’s body. With Cherry’s feet now crossed and Wangchannoi in a strong stance, his parry gives him a chance to land a thudding power shot on an opponent out of position.

Taking kicks to land punches is not an even trade - the kick scores highly and the punch only scores if it shows a clear effect. Wangchannoi’s aim with this counter is not to subtly outpoint Cherry with half-speed counters, but to smash him with his right hand hard and consistently enough to signal to the judges that his punches are breaking Cherry’s composure, while signalling to Cherry that he should stop kicking if he wants to stop taking the right hand.

We also see some of the first clinch exchanges of the fight. Cherry looks to secure his left hand around the head elbow-deep to enter his lock, while Wangchannoi attempts to control his hands at range to prevent him from entering the clinch. When Cherry does get a strong control position, Wangchannoi moves to a bodylock, looking to squeeze all the space out of Cherry’s lock to avoid the knees, before turning or throwing Cherry.



One of the great things about the Golden Age’s smaller gloves is that they left room for punching in clinch transitions. Wangchannoi does a bit of that here, posting his head on Cherry’s shoulder to create just enough space that the right uppercut can sneak through. He then uses Cherry’s reaction to the uppercut to secure a bodylock and hit a twisting throw.

Continued Here

Nice call to review this one. it's easy to think of Wangchannoi only as an aggressive puncher but this review showed the whole range of his skills. Golden Era top guys were ridiculously well rounded.
As for the clinch, I have the feeling that not only the referees tended to allow more time for the whole thing to flow, but the clinch game itself then was not nearly as geared towards locks as it is today. In old fights we often see sequences where one guy off balances the other to throw kicks in transition and stuff like that while today they almost always want to overpower the opponent, push them to a corner and lock them in a position that shows dominance and where the referee will have to intervene.

 

[The MM Analyst]

Good post and analysis. I agree with the point about the smaller gloves back in the day.
They should just bring back the old smaller boxing gloves instead of the mma gloves these days. It would stop the eye pokes while making boxing and boxing defence more important.

My ideal format for a ONE style, more westernized Muay Thi thing would be golden age gloves, unlimited clinch, and round by round scoring. With ONE I find the clinch and heavy encouragement against outfighting/neutralizing skillsets very annoying, and a lot of the guys they bring in obviously suffer a lot from inexperience with the small gloves. There's been some complaints that a lot of them are breaking their hands in ONE too and the smaller boxing gloves would help with that.

Great stuff man! I finally got around to read some full recaps. These are awesome.

Do you have a review or something on Flukenoi? I put together a playlist of his fights and I'm about to post a new thread about him once I watch some older ones.

I don't think I've done anything on Flukenoi yet. I recall him pulling off some pretty slick stuff against Lamnamoonlek and Kimluay but I started getting back into Muay Thai week to week more when he went on the losing streak so I haven't caught a lot of his recent fights.

Nice call to review this one. it's easy to think of Wangchannoi only as an aggressive puncher but this review showed the whole range of his skills. Golden Era top guys were ridiculously well rounded.
As for the clinch, I have the feeling that not only the referees tended to allow more time for the whole thing to flow, but the clinch game itself then was not nearly as geared towards locks as it is today. In old fights we often see sequences where one guy off balances the other to throw kicks in transition and stuff like that while today they almost always want to overpower the opponent, push them to a corner and lock them in a position that shows dominance and where the referee will have to intervene.

For sure, definitely a much bigger focus on locking now. I've heard that was a response to footsweeps being legalized in part. It's a vicious cycle because the focus becomes on getting a positional advantage for the separation and points, and the defending fighters stop learning how to fight out of locks and start learning how to stall out for separations. I know there's a big posture component to clinch scoring, but it always reads to me like awarding points based on what the attacking fighter could've done if the ref let him, which is something I dislike in any combat sport. I miss reffing like Panomtuanlek/Kongtoranee and Langsuan/Hippy where they'd straight up let you take guy's backs and front headlock them with knees if they couldn't fight out of it.

 

[Mickf]

My ideal format for a ONE style, more westernized Muay Thi thing would be golden age gloves, unlimited clinch, and round by round scoring. With ONE I find the clinch and heavy encouragement against outfighting/neutralizing skillsets very annoying, and a lot of the guys they bring in obviously suffer a lot from inexperience with the small gloves. There's been some complaints that a lot of them are breaking their hands in ONE too and the smaller boxing gloves would help with that.



I don't think I've done anything on Flukenoi yet. I recall him pulling off some pretty slick stuff against Lamnamoonlek and Kimluay but I started getting back into Muay Thai week to week more when he went on the losing streak so I haven't caught a lot of his recent fights.



For sure, definitely a much bigger focus on locking now. I've heard that was a response to footsweeps being legalized in part. It's a vicious cycle because the focus becomes on getting a positional advantage for the separation and points, and the defending fighters stop learning how to fight out of locks and start learning how to stall out for separations. I know there's a big posture component to clinch scoring, but it always reads to me like awarding points based on what the attacking fighter could've done if the ref let him, which is something I dislike in any combat sport. I miss reffing like Panomtuanlek/Kongtoranee and Langsuan/Hippy where they'd straight up let you take guy's backs and front headlock them with knees if they couldn't fight out of it.

Yeah I would like to see more effective clinching in One and other promotions. I can understand why they don't though. There was too much gaming of the system when in came to clinching in the stadiums in recent years. Be great if they could find a middle ground.

 

[UWanaPlayDaGame]

I don't think I've done anything on Flukenoi yet. I recall him pulling off some pretty slick stuff against Lamnamoonlek and Kimluay but I started getting back into Muay Thai week to week more when he went on the losing streak so I haven't caught a lot of his recent fights.

He KOed Kimluay and dropped Lamnamoonlek with high kicks. His high kicks are among the best, probably second to Kompatak. The analysis below is not the most sophisticated ("the high kick landed because Lamnamoonlek was open to the high kick") but that is his mo in a nutshell: hop forward with a long guard, threaten with elbows and feints until there's an opening for the high kick. Fortunately he's back on the winning track again too.

 

[The MM Analyst]

This Week in Muay Thai: Waewwaw vs Dokmaipa

Waewwaw Wor.Klinpathum has been the top fighter at 112lbs over the past couple years. We covered his recent loss to Nadaka Yoshinari in July, but prior to that fight he was on a four fight win streak. Dokmaipa Sunti-Ubon was only 1-2 this year coming into the fight, but he fought Waewwaw once before in late 2022 and won by decision.

The story of this fight was mostly Waewwaw’s superior defense and ability to build off his offense. He established a lead-leg teep early in the fight and began bouncing in and out to feint it, desensitizing Dokmaipa to his entries and drawing out his counters.

Rather than smashing heavy, predictable round kicks at range, Waewwaw instead worked mainly with quicker light kicks that were more difficult to read and counter. He also used a slick little teep after kicking to re-assert his distance and prevent Dokmaipa from returning his own:



Waewwaw turns his body kick right into a short teep before his leg touches down. The teep bumps Dokmaipa off balance just enough that Waewwaw has time to recover his stance and easily block the counter.

The threat of his rear round kick was quickly turned into a shifting knee, as Waewwaw would pick up his rear leg as if to kick before stepping deep into southpaw with a knee:



Dokmaipa would respond to the body kick feint by picking up his leg to check or trying to counter on the way in with a lead hook. By stepping into the knee, Waewwaw landed on the open side, around the lead-leg check, and took himself inside the path of the hook.

Dokmaipa came out aggressive to begin the third round, looking to pressure Waewwow and land punch combinations, but Waewwow was able to dissuade him with some slick boxing of his own.



Waewwaw landed a couple check hooks right on the chin of the aggressive Dokmaipa, catching him as he entered and pivoting away to regain his distance. Having a strong set of hands is a great tool for a fighter who primarily looks to kick from the outside, as opponents will frequently try to avoid the kicks by storming forward and pressuring. But being able to pop an aggressive foe on the chin can not only dissuade them and give you space to kick, but it can also give you the confidence to stand your ground when necessary, rather than collapsing your stance and disarming your kicks.

Dokmaipa settled down after being fed a few hard punches, but he had trouble landing clean on Waewwaw. Waewwaw would check or catch his body kicks and counter them easily. Not only was Waewwaw doing a much better job setting up his kicks with feints and rhythm changes to make them less predictable, but by this time Dokmaipa was down and had to move forward.

Often times a fighter moving forward is disadvantaged in a kicking battle not only scoring-wise, but also mechanically. The fighter moving backwards has more time to read and avoid the kicks, and they can stay planted and wait for their opponent to step onto them, while by moving forward a fighter takes away his own time and space to defend. This is especially true of fighters who prefer to kick from the outside and don’t have comprehensive pressure tactics to pair with their kicks - it’s not uncommon to see a fight between two outside kickers snowball as soon as one gets a slight advantage and the other is forced to walk into the kicks to close the scoring gap.



With his body kicks countered consistently, Dokmaipa tried going up to the head, but Waewwaw’s distance control and reactions were perfect. He would simply pull his upper body back while leaving his feet in place, making the kick fall short. Since only his upper body is moving with his feet staying planted, he remains in a strong stance and close enough to immediately counter after slipping the kick, while Dokmaipa would be thrown wildly out of position by missing the headkick.

In kickboxing, headkicks are usually taken on the arms, but kicks to the arms score in Muay Thai. The legs are used to block the midsection and ideally high kicks are avoided entirely either by giving ground or hinging back at the upper body. This is a common counter in Muay Thai, but it’s rare to see someone with such an advantage in distance control that they can do it to nearly every headkick thrown all fight like Waewwaw did to Dokmaipa.

Continued Here

 

[The MM Analyst]

This Week in Muay Thai: Kompatak vs ET and Boonlong vs Chalamdam

Boonlong Klongsuanpluresort is the hardest kicker in the world pound-for-pound. His kicks on the heavy bag rattle around the gym like a gunshot and leave dents in the bag like he’s George Foreman in a 122lb body. His kicks on his opponents’ arms leave them crumpled and broken. Boonlong took 2 years off shortly after going on a four-fight knockout streak in 2020, but since returning this year he’s 2-0. His current victim, Chalamdam Sor.Boonmerit, was 2-1 entering this fight.

Once again Boonlong put on a kicking clinic. We covered his last fight against Charoensuk in which he had to make some clever adjustments to outfox a crafty clinch fighter, but Chalamdam was a much easier style matchup as he was more willing to stand at range.

Boonlong takes great advantage of Muay Thai’s slow early rounds, using them to slam in devastating kicks while his opponent is still in first gear. Often this will lead either to an early finish, or a late finish through accumulation as the damage wears down his man’s arms. That was the case here, as Chalamdam consented to an outside fight for the first two rounds, which mostly consisted of Boonlong slamming huge kicks into his arms and body.

Chalamdam tried to pressure Boonlong back to the ropes later, but he ended up running into kicks and getting stalled out in the clinch.

A big part of the reason Boonlong is able to land such powerful kicks on opponents who are always on the lookout for them is his weight distribution and footwork. He fights with a heavy lead foot and puts a premium on maintaining a strong, staggered stance. By fighting with most of his weight already on the plant leg, he can quickly snap out the rear leg with devastating speed and power. But his commitment to maintaining this weight distribution while in motion allows the kicks to come at a moment’s notice with no sacrifice in power.

When Boonlong is backing up, he often does it in a way that leaves his front foot weighted and ready to kick. If he only needs to move a little bit, he’ll just step with the lead foot first to get the weight on it and follow with the rear, breaking with the orthodoxy of leading with the foot closest to the direction of movement. If he needs to move further, he’ll shuffle back in stance, keeping his feet staggered and weight forward. And at long distances against charging opponents, Boonlong will back-step into southpaw or step across himself, leading with his lead foot, so that by the time his opponent has closed the large gap he’s created, his lead foot is loaded and ready to spring.

This fight is an excellent demonstration of kicking setups and footwork, as Boonlong spent the whole fight leading Chalamdam into kicks and playing with distance. Eventually the accumulation of kicks to the arms broke Chalamdam down and Boonlong scored the finish early in the fourth round.

This was Boonlong’s first finish in his three fights since returning to Muay Thai, but it leaves him with six finishes in his last eleven fights, an absurd finishing rate in a sport that rarely sees finishes in top fights. With the win over a solid fighter in Chalamdam, Boonlong is inching closer to the top of the 122lbs division. I’d love to see him take on an elite fighter like Phetsila Wor.Auracha or Diesellek BuildJC next.



Continued Here

 

[Blazeblack]

Good example of how to properly promote your stuff on this forum without coming off like a spammer...

Agreed, very tastefully done. Especially when compared to some of the gems that we've seen over the years.

 

[The MM Analyst]

This Week In Muay Thai: Khunsuklek vs Han
Khunsuklek delivered one of the oddest knockouts of the year and Yothin vs Ronachai was a banger!

Khunsueklek Boomdeksian was the hottest prospect in Muay Thai for a while, coming into his last fight with Pangtor Por.Lakboon on a 36-fight win streak. But at this point the 18 year old proven himself as one of the top fighters in Muay Thai and the best at 118lbs. Han Phetkiatphet has a story almost directly opposite to Khunsueklek. At 28 years of age, he retired from Muay Thai a while ago before returning this year and scoring a shocking upset over Rajadamnern 122lbs champion, Chalamdam Nayokathasala.

Both fighters spent the first round trying to finesse their way into the rear body kick, with Khunsueklek using a skipping hip feint to hide his kick and Han taking the backfoot and attempting to walk Khunsueklek onto the kicks.



Shortly into the second round, Han caught a body kick as Khunsueklek doubled up on it before pushing on his face and sweeping his leg out at the ankle. Note how Khunsueklek immediately reaches for Han’s head when his kick is caught, but the stiff-arm prevents him from making a connection.

Controlling the head is one of the highest percentage counters to a caught kick. When your leg is held straight with the knee locked, it becomes a powerful lever with which to exert pressure on your entire body (this is the principle deep half guard is built upon in grappling, for example). But with the leg bent, it becomes a much worse lever, as any force applied is diverted by the hinge of the knee and hip. Controlling the head with your leg caught makes it much easier to put weight on that leg and start bending it, while also allowing you to break the opponent’s posture and enter the clinch.

While Han was ready to prevent Khunsueklek from controlling his head, Khunsueklek only had to see the sweep once before adjusting.

The next time Han caught a kick, Khunsueklek didn’t immediately reach for the head, but instead kept his distance and braced against the sweep. You won’t resist a sweep like that for very long, but it bought him a quick second and made Han’s first sweep attempt fail. Han had to shuffle in and get a bit closer to get the proper leverage on his sweep, but by closing distance he made it much easier for Khunsueklek to grab his head.



With the head in range, Khunsueklek bent his leg slightly and jumped into the collar tie grip. This had both the effect of letting him jump over Han’s next sweep attempt and put lots of weight on the leg, ripping it right from Han’s grip. As soon as the leg was free, he converted it into a shin-shield across Han’s hip to keep him from closing distance, then used the distance to unleash a massive elbow.

Han stumbled while attempting to answer the count and the elbow would end up finishing the fight. It was a peculiar finish that drew some speculation, as the elbow doesn’t appear to make much clean contact with Han. Fight fixing is sadly not uncommon in Muay Thai, even among top fighters - earlier this year Saoek Or.Atchariya, who was my pick for top pound-for-pound fighter at the time, was banned from Muay Thai for throwing a fight.

But I think this one was legit. A slow-motion replay at a rear angle shows the impact of the elbow travel through Han’s head and wobble his ear, though it was impossible to discern from the live footage. These kinds of knockouts happen now and again, particularly with elbows. With a punch, there’s usually some give in the arm doing the hitting - the fleshy bits of the arm will tighten or bounce, the wrist might hinge or quiver, but on an elbow the squishy bits are all folded up and your elbow has no give.

The only thing providing visual feedback that the elbow lands is often its trajectory stopping as it collides with the head, but a grazing elbow can still muster knockout power without catching enough bone to stop in its path. Watch Muay Thai for long enough and you’ll see some elbow knockouts that make you go “wait, what?” but I don’t think there was anything fishy here.

The finish was somewhat anticlimactic, especially since the fight was getting unusually heated in what are usually throwaway early rounds, but I’m stoked to watch whatever Khunsueklek does next. He’s an incredibly skilled and entertaining fighter, and both of his fights against top opponents so far have been super enjoyable as long as they lasted.

Continued Here...

 

[JustBleed]

My ideal format for a ONE style, more westernized Muay Thi thing would be golden age gloves, unlimited clinch, and round by round scoring. With ONE I find the clinch and heavy encouragement against outfighting/neutralizing skillsets very annoying, and a lot of the guys they bring in obviously suffer a lot from inexperience with the small gloves. There's been some complaints that a lot of them are breaking their hands in ONE too and the smaller boxing gloves would help with that.

Hear me out—what if ONE did something really innovative, like alternating rules and glove sizes between rounds? Say, first round with small gloves and limited clinching, then flip to golden age gloves and unlimited clinch for the next round. It would keep the fights dynamic and maybe even level the playing field a bit.

 

[The MM Analyst]

Hear me out—what if ONE did something really innovative, like alternating rules and glove sizes between rounds? Say, first round with small gloves and limited clinching, then flip to golden age gloves and unlimited clinch for the next round. It would keep the fights dynamic and maybe even level the playing field a bit.

Only if they also have grappling only rounds and make Mikey Musumeci do it

 

[The MM Analyst]

Rodtang vs Superlek!

The long-anticipated contest between Rodtang Jitmuangnon and Superlek Kiatmoo9 drew some of the biggest hype we’ve seen out of ONE Championship, but the pre-fight build up was rather bizzare. The story over the past year has been that Rodtang was facing easy competition, even admitting to barely training for some of the easier matchups ONE fed him. But a fight with an elite fighter like Superlek would force Rodtang to take the matter seriously.

Neither fighter seemed to be taking the fight too seriously, however. They spent a few months providing cagey answers about fighting each other, with Rodtang first expressing disinterest and Superlek even saying that he’d rather keep the belt on another Thai than compete for it. The shenanigans didn’t stop when the fight was finally booked, as Superlek missed weight by 5lbs. The match was subsequently changed to a three-round, non-title fight upon request by Rodtang’s team and speculation abounded that we may just be treated to a lazy sparring match.

What we got was anything but lazy. Once in the ring together, Superlek and Rodtang threw away all the pre-fight hesitation and went to war for nine minutes.

Superlek started the fight patiently, but that didn’t last very long. He picked at Rodtang with lightning fast leg kicks initially, intercepting him as he stepped forward.



The lead-foot heavy stance of Superlek enables him to throw incredibly quick kicks without sacrificing power. With his weight already loaded on the plant foot, he doesn’t need to shift his weight to initiate the kick and can spring right into it. The timing is also critical, he would catch Rodtang as he stepped forward with his lead leg or just as the leg was coming down from an attempted check. But even when Rodtang saw the kicks coming, they were so fast and efficient that he lacked the time to turn his knee into the kick for a proper check, instead just lifting the leg in time for the shin to collide with his thigh. Rodtang attempted to answer with some inside leg kicks of his own, but Superlek would pull his leg back and make them fall short.

One of the keys to Superlek’s talent as a kicker is that he understands the value in the threat of his kicks. The concept is simple, but brilliant in execution - if you pelt your man with a few hard kicks, he’s going to become concerned with defending or countering them, and those reactions open up offense elsewhere. We saw the principle in action in his recent fight against Nabil Anane, as Superlek quickly established his leg kick, then began feinting it to close distance into hard body punches, which carried him in range to smash in even more leg kicks and heavy punches upstairs.

Rodtang was a lot more methodical in his pressure against Superlek than usual, wary of running onto his kicks and the elbow counters he used to dice up Tagir Khalilov. But when Rodtang made some progress and got him to the ropes, Superlek would either flash his hands or the elbow to get Rodtang stepping backwards and follow up with a leg kick, or show the kick first and then use his hands to get Rodtang backing up.

It was a great demonstration of when it’s appropriate to throw a hard leg kick. When standing at the edge of kicking range against an opponent stepping onto you, the kick can be safely timed as his lead foot plants down, as he needs another deep step to get close enough to counter, and he can’t immediately step forward again with his weight mid-step. When he’s coralled you to the ropes and has his feet underneath him, the kick becomes dangerous as he’s close enough to counter and you lack the cushion of distance behind you. But force him to give ground and the kick becomes safe again, as he can’t step in and counter with his weight committed backwards.



Pay close attention to Superlek’s footwork in the clips above. Note how smoothly he transitions from his punch or elbow right into his kick, with a short hop-step as the punch extends allowing him to gallop right into the kick without resetting his weight. The feinted kicks smoothly flow into this too, with just a short twitch of his hip selling the kick and getting Rodtang to lift his lead leg, before he hops to the inside and continues with punches.

Most of Rodtang’s success in the first round came from elbows. Unable to get the distance on his punches and kicks, he picked up Superlek’s tendency to counter his charges with a spear elbow and looked to punish it with his own.



He would check Superlek’s lead hand, sometimes throwing up a crossing block to impede Superlek’s elbow, then step in with a deep, lunging step as he unleashed an upward elbow. Superlek would dip his head and set his weight forward in attempt to counter with the spear elbow, only to end up running right into Rodtang’s.

Halfway through the first round, Rodtang found a key moment to shift the momentum that was trending in Superlek’s favor. He lunged forward with a body hook, but Superlek smoothly countered it by taking a collar tie and whacking an elbow into Rodtang’s head. Rodtang ended up with his back nearly turned to Superlek, but as Superlek turned off the ropes, Rodtang immediately pivoted to follow and crossed his lead hand over Superlek’s face, hiding an elbow that opened up a gushing cut on Superlek’s forehead.

The cut seemed to mess with the distancing on Superlek’s counters, and Rodtang began finding more success closing distance. But it also made Superlek adjust, getting more aggressive and taking the fight back to Rodtang. In the second round, Superlek walked Rodtang down and pelted him with knees. But he didn’t sacrifice his defensive responsibility, instead blending the Muay Khao game with excellent hand-fighting and head movement to create uneven exchanges where he could land and Rodtang couldn’t.

As Superlek came forward, he stuck both arms out and controlled both of Rodtang’s hands. The double hand control impeded the direct path to Superlek’s face, effectively stifling Rodtang’s spearing elbows for the rest of the fight. By barring shots through the center line, Superlek funneled Rodtang’s offense into a narrower set of more predictable strikes. He was forced to hook around the arms, but Superlek could read the wide swings easily and duck underneath them, or beat him to the punch with a straight shot.



When Rodtang swung wide, Superlek would answer him with a check hook or just duck underneath. As Rodtang’s offense dwindled in response to the hand control, Superlek began using it to force him backwards and work into his own offense.

Continued Here...

 

[The MM Analyst]

I wrote a big article on Tawanchai for premium substack subscribers, here's a sneak preview:


Muay Thai can be difficult for fans of other combat sports to get into due to its peculiar pacing. Fights typically start slow and end slow, with most of the action taking place in the middle rounds. Momentum shifts often aren’t as dramatic either, largely due to the focus on kicks and knees as the highest-scoring weapons. A punch square in the jaw can turn the tide of a fight instantaneously, but being really good at landing body kicks behind an opponent’s check doesn’t exactly lend itself to breathtaking comebacks.

But Tawanchai P.K. Saenchai isn’t your typical Muay Thai fighter. He’s a well-rounded Femeu who sticks to the adage of “all the way out or all the way in,” using kicks and footwork to avoid the pocket. But he’s also a strong, fast, and athletic fighter who packs a wallop in each of his strikes. Even from a very young age, Tawanchai demonstrated the dynamism lacking in many of today’s Muay Thai fighters.

One of Tawanchai’s first big fights came at the ripe old age of 17 against current Rajdamnern 126lbs champion, Chaila Por.Lakboon. Chaila lead throughout most of the fight before stunning Tawanchai with a left hand in the fourth round. But as Chaila pursued, Tawanchai smoothly skipped out to an angle and knocked Chaila out cold with a headkick. A Tawanchai fight can turn on a dime just like that, whether he’s coming back from a deficit or shocking his opponent with power early to build an insurmountable lead.

Tawanchai was marked for an international transition early on, as he quickly outgrew Muay Thai’s competitive weight classes of 112-135lbs. His shocking power and athleticism lead him to stardom and a handful of brutal finishes in ONE Championship, and recently he’s made his hay snapping the limbs of old kickboxers. But competition has been sparse as there just aren’t very many good Muay Thai fighters up at 155lbs. Instead, Tawanchai is looking to follow in the footsteps of his fellow southpaws Sitthichai and Petchpanomrung, who became some of the world’s best kickboxers after their time in Muay Thai wrapped up.

The Left Kick
The southpaw body kick is in many ways Muay Thai’s quintessential weapon. Many coaches will even convert students into southpaws to open up the kick. It has a number of advantages over its orthodox counterpart - the southpaw kick targets the squishy bits of the tummy and the internal organs it protects, while kicks to the closed side of the body run into the harder back muscles. The southpaw kick also makes it much easier to control distance and positioning.

In an open-stance matchup between an orthodox and southpaw fighter, the lead hands and feet clash, extending the distance and making it more natural to operate at kicking range. A southpaw finds it easier to enforce that distance, as they can push off with the lead hand and threaten the rear to keep their man out of the pocket. The body kick itself is also a crucial tool for controlling distance and position in an open-stance matchup however, as it naturally creates a barrier that is difficult to step past.

A weak plane in one’s stance is open in whatever direction they don’t have a foot planted to catch their weight. If you’re standing completely square and someone shoves you backwards, you’ll stumble, but if they shove you from the side, you can simply adjust your far foot to catch your weight. A body kick on the closed side kicks right into a strong plane, where the rear foot is poised to catch the fighter’s weight as his momentum begins going backwards. The southpaw body kick, however, transfers momentum across a weak plane in the orthodox stance. Figure 1 demonstrates.



A southpaw kicker will generally circle toward the open side, encouraging the opponent to step onto their kick. In order to cut them off and get close enough to punch, the opponent has to step nearer their center-line, but the body kick can be used to constantly juggle them, preventing them from occupying the center line and ensuring the southpaw has an angle to circle out as they near the ropes. In comparison, the rear-leg kick in a closed stance matchup lacks the off-balancing and angle-enforcing power of the open-stance kick.

Tawanchai makes great use of the body kick to enforce distance and intercept opponents as they step onto him. He operates best moving backwards, circling toward the open side to lead opponents into the kick and cutting them off with it as they step toward his center.

Rather than setting the kick up with punches, Tawanchai relies on his timing to ensure his kick lands when his opponent is not ready to defend, either while they’re punching, stepping into him, or reacting to another threat. One of the classic ways to do that is by varying the target on the kicks, mixing up leg, head, and body so the opponent never knows what to expect.

Tawanchai uses his body kick to condition opponents to react low, before going up to the head often. But he adds additional depth to the mixups by using his kicks to turn opponents into the next one. After throwing the body kick, instead of stepping his kicking leg directly backwards into his stance, he’ll step outward in a 90 degree turn as in Figure 2. His opponent, who is usually on one leg attempting to check the kick, has to stop and turn on the spot to face him, making the next kick even more difficult to predict.

You can find the full article here...

I also made a video on Tawanchai's teep mechanics and tactics, and how he blends it with his footwork

 

[Monte Moku]

I wrote a big article on Tawanchai for premium substack subscribers, here's a sneak preview:


Muay Thai can be difficult for fans of other combat sports to get into due to its peculiar pacing. Fights typically start slow and end slow, with most of the action taking place in the middle rounds. Momentum shifts often aren’t as dramatic either, largely due to the focus on kicks and knees as the highest-scoring weapons. A punch square in the jaw can turn the tide of a fight instantaneously, but being really good at landing body kicks behind an opponent’s check doesn’t exactly lend itself to breathtaking comebacks.

But Tawanchai P.K. Saenchai isn’t your typical Muay Thai fighter. He’s a well-rounded Femeu who sticks to the adage of “all the way out or all the way in,” using kicks and footwork to avoid the pocket. But he’s also a strong, fast, and athletic fighter who packs a wallop in each of his strikes. Even from a very young age, Tawanchai demonstrated the dynamism lacking in many of today’s Muay Thai fighters.

One of Tawanchai’s first big fights came at the ripe old age of 17 against current Rajdamnern 126lbs champion, Chaila Por.Lakboon. Chaila lead throughout most of the fight before stunning Tawanchai with a left hand in the fourth round. But as Chaila pursued, Tawanchai smoothly skipped out to an angle and knocked Chaila out cold with a headkick. A Tawanchai fight can turn on a dime just like that, whether he’s coming back from a deficit or shocking his opponent with power early to build an insurmountable lead.

Tawanchai was marked for an international transition early on, as he quickly outgrew Muay Thai’s competitive weight classes of 112-135lbs. His shocking power and athleticism lead him to stardom and a handful of brutal finishes in ONE Championship, and recently he’s made his hay snapping the limbs of old kickboxers. But competition has been sparse as there just aren’t very many good Muay Thai fighters up at 155lbs. Instead, Tawanchai is looking to follow in the footsteps of his fellow southpaws Sitthichai and Petchpanomrung, who became some of the world’s best kickboxers after their time in Muay Thai wrapped up.

The Left Kick
The southpaw body kick is in many ways Muay Thai’s quintessential weapon. Many coaches will even convert students into southpaws to open up the kick. It has a number of advantages over its orthodox counterpart - the southpaw kick targets the squishy bits of the tummy and the internal organs it protects, while kicks to the closed side of the body run into the harder back muscles. The southpaw kick also makes it much easier to control distance and positioning.

In an open-stance matchup between an orthodox and southpaw fighter, the lead hands and feet clash, extending the distance and making it more natural to operate at kicking range. A southpaw finds it easier to enforce that distance, as they can push off with the lead hand and threaten the rear to keep their man out of the pocket. The body kick itself is also a crucial tool for controlling distance and position in an open-stance matchup however, as it naturally creates a barrier that is difficult to step past.

A weak plane in one’s stance is open in whatever direction they don’t have a foot planted to catch their weight. If you’re standing completely square and someone shoves you backwards, you’ll stumble, but if they shove you from the side, you can simply adjust your far foot to catch your weight. A body kick on the closed side kicks right into a strong plane, where the rear foot is poised to catch the fighter’s weight as his momentum begins going backwards. The southpaw body kick, however, transfers momentum across a weak plane in the orthodox stance. Figure 1 demonstrates.

View attachment 1004996

A southpaw kicker will generally circle toward the open side, encouraging the opponent to step onto their kick. In order to cut them off and get close enough to punch, the opponent has to step nearer their center-line, but the body kick can be used to constantly juggle them, preventing them from occupying the center line and ensuring the southpaw has an angle to circle out as they near the ropes. In comparison, the rear-leg kick in a closed stance matchup lacks the off-balancing and angle-enforcing power of the open-stance kick.

Tawanchai makes great use of the body kick to enforce distance and intercept opponents as they step onto him. He operates best moving backwards, circling toward the open side to lead opponents into the kick and cutting them off with it as they step toward his center.

Rather than setting the kick up with punches, Tawanchai relies on his timing to ensure his kick lands when his opponent is not ready to defend, either while they’re punching, stepping into him, or reacting to another threat. One of the classic ways to do that is by varying the target on the kicks, mixing up leg, head, and body so the opponent never knows what to expect.

Tawanchai uses his body kick to condition opponents to react low, before going up to the head often. But he adds additional depth to the mixups by using his kicks to turn opponents into the next one. After throwing the body kick, instead of stepping his kicking leg directly backwards into his stance, he’ll step outward in a 90 degree turn as in Figure 2. His opponent, who is usually on one leg attempting to check the kick, has to stop and turn on the spot to face him, making the next kick even more difficult to predict.

You can find the full article here...

I also made a video on Tawanchai's teep mechanics and tactics, and how he blends it with his footwork

Great stuff as always man, high quality content like this is very hard to find. I'm saving for a wedding ring at the moment, but once my finances aren't as tight I am definitely going to subscribe!

 

[The MM Analyst]

Great stuff as always man, high quality content like this is very hard to find. I'm saving for a wedding ring at the moment, but once my finances aren't as tight I am definitely going to subscribe!

That's awesome! Congrats on the impending engagement man.

 

[Monte Moku]

That's awesome! Congrats on the impending engagement man.

Thank you sir!

 

[Nova44]

Great stuff as always man, high quality content like this is very hard to find. I'm saving for a wedding ring at the moment, but once my finances aren't as tight I am definitely going to subscribe!

Congrats man, happy for you!

 

[Monte Moku]

Congrats man, happy for you!

Thanks man!