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Best of BKK Muay Thai: fights you missed, fights coming up: vol 3 (Dec, 2020) (Patreon)

Published:

2020-12-03 10:29:27

Edited:

2020-12-03 11:38:15

Imported:

2021-08

Content

Our Note: With the passionate support we've gotten from patrons we are always looking to find ways to give everyone better, in-depth content, and also to help support others who are passionate in their work in Muay Thai. As a continued experiment we've starting this "Bangkok Muay Thai" column, written by Phan Kế Sơn who covers Bangkok Stadium Muay Thai on Twitter (follow him for the latest of what's happening in the stadia, and highlights: @MTLevG). We want you to be able to jump right into the best fights that recently happened, and be able to look forward to what to watch coming up, giving everyone a better sense of the divisions and top talents. This Patreon does a lot to record the legacy of Muay Thai, but that legacy will not survive unless people enjoy today's stadium Muay Thai as well. Let us know if this is something you enjoy! It's free for everyone, patrons and non-patrons alike.

See the best fights you missed
See where to watch the best upcoming fights
Learn about the best fighters in the best divisions

This calendar tells you when up coming shows are happening, and how to watch them.

At the bottom of this article you'll see all the links to the fights, and how you can watch the best BKK stadium Muay Thai from where you are.

Volume 3 | 2-11-20 to 22-11-20 (back), 30-11-20 to 13-12-20 (forward)

Introduction:

In this article, I will be breaking down my four favorite fights from the three-week period (schedule irregularity, usually two-week period) between the 2nd of November and the 22nd of November. Additionally, I will be breaking down my four most anticipated fights from the 30th of November to the 13th of December.

Looking back:

Saifahnoi (red) vs Fahbunmee (blue) | Starts at 3:10:20
Kongchai (red) vs Superlek (blue)
Sangmanee (red) vs Rungkit (blue)
Yodkritsada (red) vs Kingsanglek (blue) | Starts at 3:18:10

Looking forward (fights referred to):

Looking back (all fights linked above and at the end):

Fahbunmee BirdRangsit vs Saifahnoi Kiatkriangkrai | for 115lbs Raja title | 04 Nov.

My first choice here is the rematch between Fahbunmee BirdRangsit and Saifahnoi Kiatkringkrai. Due to the promoter exodus at Rajadamnern Stadium in late June of this year and fighters moving up in weight because of the lockdown, competition at 115lbs at Rajadamnern Stadium has been significantly reduced. Especially since Chefboonthum and Petyindee holds a large portion of elite competition at 115lbs. So, the Rajadamnern Stadium title doesn’t hold the same weight it used to. But, this fight being for the title had nothing to do with why I picked it. It is, first and foremost, a very interesting matchup between a very tall clincher and a smaller aggressive fighter who works outside of the clinch.

Starting with Saifahnoi, a big fighter who frequents the 118lbs division and occasionally, 122lbs. As of this fight, he was coming off of a decision loss to SingUdon AoodUdon, at an uncharacteristically high weight of 123lbs, though, prior to that, he was on a strong 6-1 run.

Standing at a height of around 178-180cm, he is enormous for 115lbs. This height compliments his clinch game incredibly well. Saifahnoi has a diverse arsenal of knees at his disposal, with his long stabbing knees being some of his most dangerous weapons. He also has a decent rear kick that he can depend on to score on the outside. Due to his size, he can throw them from essentially anywhere. But, this over-reliance on his height leaves him open to many other attacks from his opponents. Outside of the clinch, Saifahnoi’s defense is average at best and his top defense (chest to head) is frankly almost non-existent.

On to Fahbunmee. Standing at 160cm, Fahbunmee may well be one of the shortest elite fighters in the division. Though truly a very talented striker, Fahbunmee has struggled with making weight at times so, even though he is a perfect fit for the 108-112lbs divisions, he chose to fight at 115lbs.

Fahbunmee is a versatile out and in-fighter with a wide range of weapons he can choose from. He has a strong kick, great teep but his best weapons are his swarming hooks, elbows and feints. What he lacks in physicality, he makes up for in his speed, timing, awareness and his ability to take back an exchange after breaking away from the clinch that he was most likely losing. In addition to Fahbunmee's technical prowess, he can fight in both stances and fares going backwards just as well as while he is pressuring.

His biggest weakness though, is that if he cannot break away from the clinch, his offense is completely shut down. This was shown clearly in his last fight against Saifahnoi, who is both much bigger and much stronger than Fahbunmee. Granted, Fahbunmee tried to fight Saifahnoi in the clinch for some reason in their first meeting.

This fight will come down to whether Fahbunmee can break away from the clinch, and if Saifahnoi’s size is finally just too much for Fahbunmee.

Sangmanee Sor.CafeMuayThai vs Rungkit Wor.Sangprapai | 138-139lbs | 06 Nov.

My second pick is Sangmanee Sor.CafeMuayThai vs Rungkit Wor.Sangprapai on the Muaymumwansuk show, 6th December. This was going to be the first time Sangmanee fought at below 140lbs since September 2019, something he’s asked for since he took the Thananchai fight at 141lbs.

Sangmanee has been a staple at Bangkok stadiums ever since 2012, when he was 15 years old (won 4 major titles and Fighter of the Year award in 2012 too). Since then, he’s made his name as one of the best fighters of the last decade. Recently, a fire has been lit in him again as he ran through some of the toughest fighters in Thailand, including beating Rafi Bohic, Yodpanomrung, Chujaroen and handing Tawanchai his only loss (in Muay Thai) in 15 fights. All of this was done while being severely undersized for the division. As of this fight, he was coming off three losses in a row while competing at 141-145lbs, significantly higher than his highest preferred weight of 139lbs.

Sangmanee is an aggressive technical southpaw fighter with a strong rear left kick and punches. He can fight on the backfoot just as well though and will most definitely have the strength advantage here against Rungkit. He has great awareness and is usually very defensively responsible though his head movement against punches is still minimal.

He has few bad stylistic matchups at below 140lbs. His worst matchups there would be an incredibly tricky fighter like Thaksinlek or a pressure fighter like Thanonchai (Thanakorn/Fairtex).

On the other hand, Rungkit is a 19-year-old Petyindee promotion superstar. After running through the Petyindee circuit’s 122-126lbs division in 2016-2017, at the age of 17, Rungkit was thrown into the top tier of competition in 2018 and has thrived there since. As of this fight, Rungkit was coming off of a masterclass performance against a declining Yodlekpet Or.Pitisak.

Rungkit is well known for his hard kicks from either leg which very often slip through the check. He has great teeps, which were masterfully demonstrated in his two later fights against Suakim. Additionally, he displayed massive improvements in his boxing in his latest fight, where he picked Yodlekpet apart repeatedly with jabs and long knees. This, in contrast to his fight against Shiro (one of the top kickboxers at 122lbs), showed an incredible development in just one year.

What truly sets him apart, though, is his ability to thrive under pressure and his defense. He dominated Rodtang, Saeksan, and Yodlekpet though had a very hard time against Suakim in the clinch, which is where his weakness lies.

Though he is a very good anti-clincher and can position himself to stop his opponent from transitioning so the referee would break the clinch, Suakim, an experienced veteran clincher had no issue dealing with Rungkit.

Ultimately, this is a very interesting matchup for both men and it should be a chess match of kicks and positioning with Sangmanee leading for most of the fight as Rungkit stays on the backfoot like he usually does.

Kongchai Chanaidonmuang vs Superlek Jitmuangnon | 118lbs | 14 Nov.

I took a while considering if I should choose this fight or Kaonar vs Superball but ultimately settled on this one as Kongchai Chanaidonmuang and Superlek Jitmuangnon are both the future number 1 fighters of their respective gym (Sangtiennoi gym and Jitmuangnon gym). To an extent, they may be the future superstars of the sport. This wasn’t a great fight, it was a chess match between two rising stars that have finally met their match in each other. Watch out for the incredibly controversial decision.

Starting with 18-year-old (birthday in September) Kongchai. Just before this fight, he was on a 10-1-1 run with his only loss of the period coming by spectacular hand trap-elbow KO against Wanmawin Pumpanmuang. The draw came right after his loss to Wanmawin, this time in a mindblowing comeback for Kongchai after getting knocked down in the fourth round against Watcharapon P.K.Saenchai. In his latest fight before this one against Superlek though, Kongchai finally got back to his winning ways in a war against Yodpanum.

Kongchai is a very smart long-limbed southpaw puncher. His uniqueness comes from his left crosses and implementation of the lead uppercut as a multi-purpose tool for either setting up combinations or as a follow-up. He has good body kicks and teeps from both legs that he can use to set-up combinations with. Kongchai is also an adept clincher, preferring to pick apart his opponent with short elbows. Kongchai’s defense is also excellent, he checks kicks very responsibly and uses his lineal head movement very well.

His weakness lies in his over-commitment to certain shots which tends to leave him open to his opponent’s strikes.

Much like Kongchai, 17-year-old Superlek was on a 10-1-1 run as of this fight but before the Covid lockdown, Superlek was fighting at below 105lbs, and even in July of this year, on the first show back from lockdown, Superlek was only 113lbs. All this is to say that he hasn’t been facing the same level of competition as Kongchai lately. Though, Superlek has essentially dominated most of his opponents up until this fight.

As he is still growing, Superlek is currently a very big and strong fighter for the division which gives him a massive advantage in the clinch. He has a great jab that he uses to keep distance and to circle away. He also uses his teep to great effect for keeping distance. In fact, he feints regularly with his lead leg to manipulate the rhythm of the fight. Superlek kicks like a truck out of his rear leg while his lead kick is a great weapon to fall back on. The big advantage he will have over Kongchai though, is in the clinch where he has great stabbing knees.

Superlek, much like Kongchai, is also very defensively responsible.

Since he does everything well, the only way for his opponents to win is to outsmart him or just do everything better than he does.

This is a good look at two future superstars fighting each other at the beginning of their careers. Both have a relatively similar base style and are smart strikers. While Kongchai has a slight experience advantage, Superlek has a considerable physical advantage.

Yodkritsada YutChonburi vs Kingsanglek Tor.Laksong | 132lbs | 17 Nov.

Similarly to the last choice, I was struggling to pick between this fight and Ekwayu Mor.KrungthepThonburi on his quest of cleaning out the Kiatpetch 122lbs division, against Chokdee. But at last, I thought a good ole’ all-out war would be good for my last pick, Yodkritsada YutChonburi vs Kingsanglek Tor.Laksong from the big Palangmai show in Nakhon Ratchasima on the 17th November.

Yodkritsada is a former Rajadamnern Stadium Champion who has been on a bad run (1-3) as of late but he was on a scorched-earth 13-2 run from late 2017 to late 2019. In that run, his only losses came by decision against Lamnamoonlek, another top fighter at 126-130 and Petpangan Tded99, when he lost his Rajadamnern Stadium title. He had another loss in his lone kickboxing fight against Takeru Segawa, one of the greatest under 60kg kickboxers ever.

Yodkritsada is a versatile pressure striker with little in the way of close-range defense despite one of his favorite places to fight being in the clinch. Instead, he relies on his conditioning and toughness. His favorite weapon at range are easily his powerful rear kicks. In fact, Takeru Segawa said that he felt like he was being hit in the arm with a metal bat and that he thought that his arm was broken. At mid-distance, Yodkritsada prefers to throw crosses from both hands, accompanied by leg kicks, or the occasional overhand, but rarely does he throw any of these in combinations. He also likes to elbow from hand traps. Similarly, in the clinch, he elbows off of the frame on his opponent’s arms. Though, he prefers to use stabbing knees to chip away at his opponent’s defense.

As previously stated, the “hole” in his style is his almost non-existent defense from his occasional efforts to keep distance with teeps and kicks.

In contrast, 19-year-old Kingsanglek has recently come out of a slump. In his last two fights (before this one), he won against perennial contender Luknimit Singklongsi, and a huge second round leg kick KO upset against Petmorakot Tded99.

Kingsanglek is a tricky southpaw who thrives under pressure. As for skillset, Kingsanglek is a bit of a jack-of-all-trades. His strongest strike is his more-or-less unpredictable and strong left kick as he changes levels on his kicks regularly. Kingsanglek has great sweeps against pressure fighters, is patient in the clinch looking for any opportunity to trip, knee or elbow. He is best on the outside though and has no issue chasing down his opponents either. He punches well enough but elbows are his weapons of choice on counters. He utilizes the teep effectively to keep distance and kick feints to keep his opponents on their toes. To compliment his large arsenal of weapons, Kingsanglek have good balance and awareness. Though his guard is tight, if he is dragged into a war, he sometimes lets his guard down, which is especially dangerous against good punchers.

This fight pits two powerful fighters with high output in every fight, it was bound to be a war.

Looking forward:

Nuathoranee Samchaivisetsuk vs Rungsaengtawan Sor.Parat | 135lbs | 06 Dec.

First up is a rematch between “Batman” Nuathoranee Samchaivisetsuk and Rungsaengtawan Sor.Parat, again at Channel 7 Stadium. Since the second week in this period is completely stacked with amazing fights, this was a very hard choice to make.

“Batman” Nuathoranee is currently on a six-fight win streak and is arguably the best 135lbs fighter in the Kiatpet circuit. Though, he isn’t dominant enough there to compete against the true top of the division across promotions yet as the big sharks in the division include Superlek, Rungkao, Rodtang, Panpayak (before injury) and Superball, among others.

Nevertheless, Nuathoranee is one of the most fun-to-watch technical strikers in the division today. He is a sweep specialist with excellent balance manipulation reminiscent of Dany Bill. He is a very elusive outside striker, often very patient in picking his shots. Nuathoranee display great kicks and teeps from both legs. Additionally, he is not bad with punches as he regularly throws crosses and jabs while switching stances. His defense to everything below the neck is generally superb but his head movement leaves much to be desired, especially when dealing with punch combinations or just a simple jab.

In this fight though, the most important aspect will be the clinch. Specifically, it’ll come down to Nuathoranee’s ability to either control the clinch by manipulating Rungsaengtawan’s balance in the clinch like he did last time, or to try to stay on the outside and out-point him. Despite his knee clinching being above average, it isn’t as good as his opponent’s.

In very sharp contrast, Rungsaengtawan is the generic modern clincher, albeit, one who is very good at his specialty. As of this fight, he won his last two against Samsing Sor.Samangarment and a strong performance over Sibsaen Kungkroturboshark.

As previously mentioned, Rungsaengtawan is a very strong knee clincher. On the outside, as a southpaw, he has a decent left kick and a good step-in knee. In the clinch, he has a wide variety of weapons to choose from, from short elbows, to straight knees to knees to the side of the body. He uses his strength to control his opponents in the clinch. But, one of his main prevailing weaknesses is his balance, which is what Nuathoranee used to win in their last encounter.

The venue, Channel 7 Stadium has a known scoring bias for the clinching and dern (pressure) styles so Rungsaengtawan will have the advantage in this fight. This fight could truly go either way, it depends mostly on their respective camp adjusting their gameplan.

Ronachai Tor.Ramintra vs Fahpennueng Por.Lakboon | 122-123lbs | 08 Dec.

My second pick is perhaps my favorite upcoming fight of the period. Ronachai Tor.Ramintra vs Fahpennueng Por.Lakboon is a fight between two top fighters of arguably the strongest division in the sport, 116-122lbs.

Ronachai is now arguably the top dog of the division across promotions after close to dominating SaoEk Sitchefboonthum on a big cross promotion show in October. He is currently on a 5-1 run with notable wins over Pet Or.Pimonsri, Chailar Por.Lakboon (whom he lost to just before), Kompet Sitsarawatseua, and SaoEk Sitchefboonthum.

Ronachai is a very well-rounded southpaw fighter. He has especially strong and fast kicks from both legs as well as fast punches. Ronachai is big for the weight class and with his size comes strength. Due to this, he is incredibly effective in the clinch with both knees and elbows.

When it comes to defense, it would be incredibly hard to find someone better at the weight. Ronachai is adept at keeping distance, has a superb guard and when it comes to knee defense, it’s very hard to get past him without overpowering him.

However, his best quality is his ruup, meaning “frame,” composure. He never looks like he gets hurt or tired, he barely ever flinches and he rarely gets frustrated. This scores very well for him and throughout the last two years, he has developed this aspect of his game extensively.

The way Chailar beat him in their first fight was by winning an early lead and drawing Ronachai into an elbow and knee war in round 4, making him more and more frustrated.

On the other hand, there is Fahpennueng who had just won a hard-fought decision over ruthless right kick machine, Boonlong Klongsuanpluresort last month. He is currently on a three-fight win streak, with the two other wins over Chatpet Sor.Poonsawat and Teptaksin Sor.Sonsing. Admittedly not the same level of competition as Ronachai but this career revival run has been an impressive one.

Fahpennueng is a big clincher that can put on relentless pressure for a long period. Due to this, he usually controls the pace of the fight. He has strong stabbing knees from distance and in close range and well as heavy kicks on the outside. His elbows from mid to close range serve as effective secondary weapons. He excels at distancing and checking kicks but has little in the way of head movement and boxing in general.

This fight will come down to if Fahpennueng can overpower Ronachai or at least outsmart him in the clinch. Ronachai will be more drained than Fahpennueng as he almost fainted backstage before his previous fight with SaoEk due to the rough weight cut but he showed no sign of it in the fight. This will be interesting.

Sangmanee Sor.CafeMuayThai vs Capitan PetyindeeAcademy | 139lbs | 11 Dec.

Lastly, I will discuss the biggest fight of the period, Sangmanee Sor.CafeMuayThai vs Capitan PetyindeeAcademy on the 11 December Muaymumwansuk show. This will be Sangmanee’s second fight below 140lbs since 2019 and Capitan’s second fight below 140lbs since around 2015. A clash of seasoned veterans of the sport, both men became stars in the sport at roughly the same time around 2011-2012 but have never gotten a chance to meet each other until now.

Since I’ve already broken down Sangmanee’s style in the Looking Back portion, I’m going to keep this short.

Sangmanee is an aggressive southpaw fighter with a patient technical style. He has good kicks from both legs, strong punches, and is quite big and relatively strong at below 140lbs. He has very good defense, namely head movement and great awareness.

His bad matchups are being pressured by a good pressure puncher with combinations or fighting against an incredibly tricky fighter like Taksinlek.

On the other hand, Capitan has had a very interesting journey to get to where he is today. He burst onto the scene in 2011 and up until 2014, he was a top fighter, until he stopped training regularly and gained a lot of weight. He eventually settled for a while at 154lbs where he mostly relied on his talent to get through fights as he, standing at only 169cm became a dominant force in the 154lbs division. More recently though, Capitan signed a contract with Petyindee gym and has since gotten back to serious training. After defending his 154lb Rajadamnern title for a last time then dominating Yodkhunpon Sitmonchai again at 154, during the lockdown, Capitan dropped back to a healthy fight weight of 145lbs. In his first fight back, he knocked out Pettanong Banchamek in 7 seconds, one of the fastest KOs in kickboxing history. Then, in his latest fight, against Chamuaktong, at 142lbs, he dominated the newly crowned 147lbs Omnoi Stadium champion from start to finish.

Capitan is an incredible southpaw technical fighter with a notably fast left kick, teeps and great boxing. He picks his shots very well and as he showed against Chamuaktong, he has no issue in the clinch against a bigger and stronger clincher. His knees have especially good “nin” to them, meaning emphasis, visible power which makes them score that much better. Capitan displays good combination punching with the rare implementation of uppercuts. He is very defensively responsible with a tight guard, good checks and knee guards.

His biggest flaw, though, may be his inability to implement his boxing head movement into Muay Thai.

Capitan’s lack of head movement might be a big point of focus for Sangmanee in this fight but Sangmanee will most likely be very cautious and will not rush into traps set by Capitan. This will be a chess match between two technicians.

Extra. Kulabdam vs Shadow | 142lbs | 08 Dec.

This fight was the most anticipated fight in my last article but it was moved back to the 8th of December. It will be one of the best fights of this period. For the first time in over two years, Kulabdam Sor.Jor.PiekUthai returns to the place where he rose to stardom. He will try to get back into the win column while Shadow Tor.Tepsutin will look for his long-awaited revenge as Kulabdam won by unanimous decision in their last meeting back in April 2019.

Kulabdam hasn’t fought in Stadium Muay Thai since the lockdown break ended. He has, however, competed twice in ONE Championship. In a huge upset, he knocked out Sangmanee who had just recently gone on a run that saw him nearly win his second Fighter of the Year title. Similarly, in a big upset, He was dominated by 30-year-old Rodlek. Albeit, both fights were under ONE rules and referees which are much more strict on clinching, and of course, 4oz gloves and only 3 rounds for tournament fights. Needless to say, Stadium Muay Thai and ONE rules are very different. Kulabdam is relatively small for his division but as a powerful and aggressive puncher, he is more defensively responsible than most. His offense generally consists of crosses, wide hooks, elbows and leg kicks but, there is also the occasional teep and knees in the clinch. On defense, he checks kicks often, has decent head movement, and decent distancing. When he needs to, he can also take a shot and is more than able to return it with much more power.

His hands are arguably the most powerful on the current scene. In 2017, Kulabdam exploded onto the scene at Channel 7 Stadium as he went on a 12-fight unbeaten streak knocking out 9 of his opponents in that run.

Kulabdam’s biggest weaknesses though, are getting pressured by another puncher or getting picked apart by longer strikers like Tawanchai.

Shadow, on the other hand, is a Channel 7 Stadium star who broke onto the scene in 2019, known for his aggressive style. He is currently on a two-fight win streak, the first win coming against Julio Lobo and the second against Inseetong by TKO (cut from elbow), a top contender at Channel 7 Stadium. He has the physical advantage in almost every fight he has fought being much taller, stronger and longer. Due to his size, naturally, he is a very good clincher with sharp knees. But, his style is much more complete than just clinching. He has a fast, heavy rear body and head kick, great elbows and can put pressure on anyone. Overall, Shadow is a very well-rounded fighter.

There were rumors for a fight against Littewada back in July which goes to show how good Sia Chun (Kiatpet) believes Shadow to be. Needless to say, the fight never materialized.

In their last fight, Shadow hurt Kulabdam very badly in round 3 after landing two big elbows on Kulabdam at the ropes. Unfortunately, he took his foot off the pedal in round 4 and subsequently lost the two last rounds as Kulabdam started to pressure and landed much more with very accurate punches.

Links:

Last article’s anticipated fights recommendations:

Dabdam (red) vs Prabipop (blue) | misjudged Dabdam’s size, apologies
Rittidet (red) vs Yokngern (blue) | Starts at 4:01:40
[Fight cancelled] | Moved to 08 December

Looking back:

Saifahnoi (red) vs Fahbunmee (blue) | Starts at 3:10:20
Kongchai (red) vs Superlek (blue)
Sangmanee (red) vs Rungkit (blue)
Yodkritsada (red) vs Kingsanglek (blue) | Starts at 3:18:10

Looking forward (fights referred to):

- Phan Kế Sơn

This calendar tells you when up coming show are happening, and how to watch them.

How to watch Stadium (BKK) Muay Thai?

Some people find it hard to find a place to watch elite circuit fights and there are many reasons for this, whether it be the language barrier, significant time zone differences, difficulty following the sport or whatever else. In fact, it has never been easier to watch shows live than today. Nowadays, there may be about a dozen shows per week but only three shows are behind paywall (Chefboonthum and Rajadamnern, no way to pay the iPPV without a Thai credit card) and only one requires a VPN (Channel 7). Otherwise, the rest are all either on Facebook or Youtube (or adintrend).

Rajadamnern Stadium typically publishes the entire show 12 hours after the live show itself and Chefboonthum does the same a few days after on Facebook.

The best free (no paywall) shows of the week are typically Sia Boat (Petyindee)’s Muaymumwansuk show on Fridays at 6 PM local time, Muay Jet Si at Channel 7 Stadium on Sundays at 2 PM local, Suk Jitmuangnon (only live link) on Saturdays at 4:30 PM local, and Suk Jao Muay Thai at Siam Omnoi Stadium, every Saturday at 12 PM local.

Following the sport has also gotten significantly easier with the advent of websites like Muay Thai 2000 and English speaking pages dedicated to the sport on essentially all major social media platforms besides Youtube.

Content

Volume 3 | 2-11-20 to 22-11-20 (back), 30-11-20 to 13-12-20 (forward)

How to watch Stadium (BKK) Muay Thai?

Files