This Week in Muay Thai

[UWanaPlayDaGame]

This Week In Muay Thai: Khunsuklek vs Paeyim​

In 2023, 18 year old Khunsuklek Boomdeksian went from blue chip prospect to star, going 5-0 with wins over Han Petchkiatpetch and the elite Pangtor Por.Lakboon. He’s a defensive slickster with a classic Femeu style. We covered his recent knockout of Han in September.

Paeyim Sor.Boonmerit went 5-3 in 2023, beating Rajadamnern 115lbs Champion, Praewprao, and avenging two of those losses. The one unavenged loss was to Kumandoi, arguably the best pound-for-pound fighter in Muay Thai right now. He’s an aggressive knee fighter who’s strong in the clinch.

Khunsuklek started fairly fast, using the early rounds to slam in hard kicks to Paeyim’s lead leg. He used his jab and lead leg teep to set the distance, keeping Paeyim still or pushing him back so that he could lay into the kicks. The first two rounds in Muay Thai are often a source of frustration to new viewers, as they don’t factor into scoring (unless there’s a knockdown), so they tend to be very slow.

I often find the early rounds frustrating as well, because they tend to be wasted throwaway rounds. Many styles benefit from attritional work that builds up and pays off over the course of the fight, and non-scoring early rounds offer a great chance to invest in strikes that take more out of the opponent than they take out of you, but a lot of fighters who could likely benefit from upping the workrate to the legs or body early just…don’t. So it was nice to see Khunsuklek making use of the early rounds to get in some damage to the legs. Once the scoring rounds began, the same setups and reads that let him hit the legs were used to hide higher-scoring body kicks.

Once Paeyim became more aggressive in the scoring rounds, Khunsuklek got to show off his brilliant timing and slick defense. Paeyim was looking to march him down and land knees on the inside, and once he started running into kicks, he began picking up the lead leg and hopping in behind it to throw his rear hand.



Khunsuklek did an excellent job timing Paeyim’s rhythm on the march, kicking the body when his lead leg touched down and he was unable to pick it up to block. When Paeyim tried to close in with the rear hand from kicking range, Khunsuklek would smoothly slide his lead leg in to pick off the exposed ribs.

The real highlight of the performance from Khunsuklek was his use of his knee and shin as a barrier preventing Paeyim from closing distance. After he timed a body kick, he would lay the kicking leg across Paeyim’s hips and push off, effectively closing out the exchange with his kick being the last clean strike.



f they ended up with a lot of distance between them, Khunsuklek would anticipate a right hand and slip outside it while thrusting the knee out to push Paeyim back, while in closer-range exchanges his shin would fall across both hips and block Paeyim from following up with knees. Muay Khaos often use kicks as a trigger to step into their knees, as a fighter retracting his kick is off-balance, able to be more easily pushed back, so the knee barrier was a great tactic to maximize the effectiveness of his kicks and neutralize Paeyim’s counters.

Later in the fight, Khunsuklek started retracting the knee barrier and tossing out elbows as Paeyim pushed forward:



The more Paeyim pursued, the more he ran into Khunsuklek’s kicks and elbows, his own offense largely neutralized throughout. One key to Khunsuklek’s Femeu dominance is that he wasn’t running, he was leading the dance off the backfoot. I’ve often discussed how Thais often feel comfortable with their back against the ropes, as the natural squaring of the stance that accompanies it works while with defending the higher-scoring lower body attacks in Muay Thai. But often today’s fighters take that too far and overuse giving ground, relying on it as a crutch to make up for a lack of eyes in close. Often these fighters go to Japan for a kickboxing match only to end up being quickly backed to the ropes and dusted with body hooks.

In Golden Age fights, the fighters consistently stood closer together than they do in today’s Muay Thai. The master Femeus of the Golden Age gave only as much ground as needed to avoid an attack without surrenduring their own positional advantage or offensive output. Khunsuklek fought in a way reminiscent of the Golden Age spacing. Paeyim was pursuing, but every step forward carried the threat of running into a kick, and when he reached out to counter Khunsuklek would dissappear just beyond his reach, close enough to counter him. When he tried to storm forward and physically push him to the ropes, Khunsuklek’s shin would meet him or he’d be intercepted in the clinch. Paradoxically, the best outfighters like Khunsuklek are judicious about when and how they give ground.

Khunsuklek’s ability to stand his ground and back Paeyim off also allowed him to deal with his clinch well. He did a great job of controlling the entries, pummeling inside to a position he could use to escape before Paeyim got a strong grip. The main counter-clinch tactic was forcing his way to inside bicep control, preventing Paeyim from taking a controlling inside grip, and shoving him away.



Khunsuklek would transition from long-range kicks to a high guard or cross-armed guard with both hands positioned close to his head as Paeyim stormed into the pocket. The head position caused Paeyim’s swings to naturally fall outside his hands, allowing him to immediately take an inside grip on the bicep. After shoving him off he’d punctuate the exchange with a kick or a snazzy jumping knee. He’d also weave his arm to the inside immediately after landing an elbow.

When Paeyim did get close to locking around the head, Khunsuklek had an effective counter tactic:

Continued Here...​

Great breakdown man, thanks! I watched the fight last week and couldn't remember anything I'd seen. your reviews always help putting a fight into its context and placing it into a broader narrative.
That Khunsueklek vs. Kumandoi fight is inching closer but right now I guess it's too soon for Khunsueklek. The way Kumandoi handled Pangtor was different than when the younger guys fight among themselves (even though Khunsueklek KOed Pangtor!)

 

[The MM Analyst]

Great breakdown man, thanks! I watched the fight last week and couldn't remember anything I'd seen. your reviews always help putting a fight into its context and placing it into a broader narrative.
That Khunsueklek vs. Kumandoi fight is inching closer but right now I guess it's too soon for Khunsueklek. The way Kumandoi handled Pangtor was different than when the younger guys fight among themselves (even though Khunsueklek KOed Pangtor!)

Yeah that was an incredible performance from Kumandoi, he's really leveled up over the past year or so.

 

[David Street]

Happy National Muay Thai Day!! I missed it.
There is a Muay Thai Day celebrated on both February 6 and March 17th, each comes with a unique original that celebrates a specific aspect in the history of Muay Thai. The February date honors King Sanphet VIII, a Thai monarch who himself was a Muay Thai practitioner and promoted the sport as a national pastime.

 

[The MM Analyst]

This Week In Muay Thai: Chaila vs View​

Top five pound-for-pound fighters collide, Yodkla and Adtewada impress, and a clinch banger between Dieselnoi and Pornsonae.

Chaila vs View was one of the best fights that could be made in Muay Thai, as both Chaila Por.Lakboon and View Petchkoson are top five pound-for-pound fighters. Chaila had a stellar year in 2023, going 4-1-1 beating Yothin, Focus, Narak, and Somraknoi and drawing with View. He was a shoe in to win the fighter of the year award before his December head kick knockout loss to Comeback (and still the deserving FOTY in my opinion). View had wins over Comeback and Yothin in Muay Thai, as well as a win in ONE and a pair of losses in his kickboxing venture to Japan.

This fight was for the 126lbs Rajadamnern Championship and took place at Rajadamnern World Series, an entertainment Muay Thai promotion that uses open, round-by-round scoring instead of traditional Muay Thai scoring. Remember that, it will become important later.

Both these fighters have dinstinct and contrasting stances that highlight what their main weapons would be. Chaila’s stance is wide and fairly bladed, keeping his rear leg and hand back at a distance where he can step into them and throw them with power. View’s on the other hand was more defensive - a narrow, square stance meant that he could more smoothly shift weight between legs to check kicks, and made his rear kick faster but less powerful.

Chaila got started first, taking the opening round with his open side kicks while View took a few minutes to start getting his reads and countering.



Chaila naturally rocks back and forth in his stance, transferring weight from rear leg to front leg. This rhythmic motion naturally hides the weight transfer of his rear kick and he was able to land it naked early in the fight. He also paired it with a powerful rear teep, knocking View off his feet when he was on one leg to check the round kick.

But View quickly got his timing down and began checking the rear kick, which forced Chaila to work more with his hands and provided opportunities for View to counter.



View would camp out an extra step of distance away from Chaila and meet him with a lightning fast body kick as he stepped onto him, sliding it under the left arm as he threw his straight. Chaila began picking up the lead leg and hopping in behind it to rapidly close more distance, but View read it brilliantly and would hop back to make it fall short and meet him with the body kick.

While View had time to see Chaila’s slower body kick coming and get his leg up to check, his own kick came significantly faster and Chaila had to resort to countering after it landed. But View was prepared to deal with that:



View would quickly snap the kick up as Chaila advanced, then drift forward to put himself in a square or southpaw stance, causing Chaila’s counter kick to fall on his closed side. Not only is trading an open side kick for a closed side kick a good decision because the open side kick scored higher, but it also makes it easier to catch, as the closed side kick rides up the back into the armpit. View would land his kick clean, then drift forward anticipating the counter and dump Chaila to the ground. But Chaila later started countering it with punches, landing a big left straight as the square stance that afforded View easy kick defense also left him an easier target for punches.

After losing the second and third rounds, Chaila needed the fourth to stay in the fight. View’s success came through picking away at Chaila on the outside and drawing out his offense to counter, so Chaila upped the pressure but also made View go first. He stalked View back to the ropes to take away his space, and waited for View to expose himself by attacking first, countering the counter fighter.



Consequently, the fourth was Chaila’s best round of the fight. He was able to bait View into giving him opportunities to counter with his pressure, and landed his trademark left straight off his body kick, pairing them together to confuse View’s reactions.

With RWS’ open scoring system, both fighters knew the score was tied heading into the final round. Surely that would mean both men leaving everything they had left out there in hopes of capturing the title, right? Well… no.

They spent the fifth round dancing off, trading a few kicks early and then retreating for the rest of the round. It would make sense within the structure of traditional Muay Thai, neither fighter wanting to be seen taking the front foot and “admitting” they were losing. But this fight was scored round-by-round, the entire fight resting on their performance in the final round, which made their strategy rather baffling.

With really nothing at all diferrentiating their performances in the fifth round, the judges flipped a coin and two out of three gave the fight to Chaila. I’d have scored it another draw.

I enjoy RWS’ ruleset as an alternative to ONE - a style of Muay Thai with a more international focus that preserves clinching and femeu fighting while offering a more westernized scoring system. But that style of fight takes some aclimitizing to and it may cause some weird results like this when fighters are jumping back and forth between rulesets.

Personally I don’t like that Rajadamnern Championships are being decided on RWS shows. I would argue that it devalues the title by stripping it of the context that makes it meaningful, and that it’s pretty silly to have a title that isn’t contested under a consistent scoring system.

In any case, I expect we’ll see Chaila and View back in the ring together before too long given the razor thin margins in both their recent fights.

Continued Here...​

 

[SuperLuigi]

I dont think open scoring changes the fact that rounds are viewed contextually. A fighter in the lead will want to protect their lead, and protecting a lead is an art of its own. Chaila did a great job doing a little bit more in round 5 without ever looking like he was desperately chasing. This fight was basically a draw though, we need a rematch ASAP.

As much as I agree that its weird to win the belt in an alternate format its not too unexpected, because belts are always about promotion first and merit second. For at least 15 years we have seen random Japanese cans get title shots at vacant stadium belts against the worst guys in the top 10 often with a style advantage, often being held in Japan thousands of miles from the stadium it is supposedly the belt of. I dread the dystopian day the Raja belt will be decided by a powerslap contest involving a Paul brother.

 

[The MM Analyst]

I dont think open scoring changes the fact that rounds are viewed contextually. A fighter in the lead will want to protect their lead, and protecting a lead is an art of its own. Chaila did a great job doing a little bit more in round 5 without ever looking like he was desperately chasing. This fight was basically a draw though, we need a rematch ASAP.

As much as I agree that its weird to win the belt in an alternate format its not too unexpected, because belts are always about promotion first and merit second. For at least 15 years we have seen random Japanese cans get title shots at vacant stadium belts against the worst guys in the top 10 often with a style advantage, often being held in Japan thousands of miles from the stadium it is supposedly the belt of. I dread the dystopian day the Raja belt will be decided by a powerslap contest involving a Paul brother.

Yeah Japanese fighters have always got special treatment for sure, all the way back to when Toshio Fujiwara won his belt with a double leg takedown lol. But it bugs me more nowadays because Rajadamnern belts that still have a decent standard of competition, with Lumpini belts being awarded on random LWC fights between nobodies, at least they were a while ago I haven't been following that promotion closely.

 

[SuperLuigi]

Yeah Japanese fighters have always got special treatment for sure, all the way back to when Toshio Fujiwara won his belt with a double leg takedown lol. But it bugs me more nowadays because Rajadamnern belts that still have a decent standard of competition, with Lumpini belts being awarded on random LWC fights between nobodies, at least they were a while ago I haven't been following that promotion closely.

I remember they had that nasty fight where Mathias broke his arm and the promotion looked promising but every time I've checked them since then it seems to be mostly cans. Hopefully they are not giving away Lumpinee belts for those fights.

 

[The MM Analyst]

This Week In Muay Thai: Khunsuknoi vs Ritidet​

Khunsuknoi Boomdeksian and Ritidet Kiatsongrit are both top five fighters at 118lbs. Khunsuknoi went 2-2 in 2023, but seems to have levelled up lately as he’s on a three-fight win streak including a knockout win over a top fighter in Phetjakajan. He is the brother of Khunsuklek, our #4 Pound-for-Pound fighter. Ritidet went 5-3 last year, trading wins and losses against top fighters at 118-120lbs

This fight was a fantastic kicking battle between two very crafty kickers. It was probably my favorite fight in a weekend with GLORY and a stacked UFC card. Both fighters looked to land their rear kick early and often, setting it up using shrewd feints and rhythm manipulation, and consistently countering each other’s kicks.



Khunsuknoi’s impeccable depth and balance in exchanges gave him an edge over Ritidet the longer these kicking exchanges went. He shifts his weight back and forth to create a rocking rhythm that hides his round kick, but when the fight gets heated he keeps his weight centered evenly over both legs, allowing him to quickly pick up either leg to check or kick off it. He was landing his rear kick as well as Ritidet, but he would also pick up the lead leg to cross check or flick out a quick lead leg body kick in an exchange.

Another aspect of Khunsuknoi’s skill on display was his distance management. He repeatedly made Ritidet fall short when leading with his open side kick, pulling his upper body back just enough to make it miss while staying in position to counter. At one point Ritidet even lifted his rear leg up to show a body kick, drawing a check from Khunsuknoi, and quickly skipped into a headkick, but Khunsuknoi managed to read it in a split second and pull his head back to safety.

When Khunsuknoi lead with his own open side kick, he would add a short teep to the hip on the end to reinforce his distance:



Ritidet was trying to catch and counter the kick, but the teep to the hip would knock him off balance and end the exchange after Khunsuknoi scored the last or only blow. A lovely way to defuse counters and ensure the success of your rear kick.

After trailing all fight, Ritidet chased with punching combinations in the final round, while Khunsuknoi looked to scare him off by rebounding off the ropes with spearing elbows. It was a lovely performance from Khunsuknoi and I can’t wait to see what’s next for him.

Continued Here...​

 

[The MM Analyst]

This Week In Muay Thai: KaenUbon vs Sakonpat​

KaenUbon Por.Lakboon is the top fighter at 112lbs and the current Rajadamnern title holder, winning the interim belt against Waewaw earlier this year, and becoming the official champ when Nadaka Yoshinari vacated his belt to move up to 115lbs. In his last four fights, KaenUbon beat three of the other top five fighters at 112lbs in Waewaw, Tubtimtong, and Forwin. KaenUbon made his first title defense against Sakonpat ChotBangsaen, who was 5-2 in his last seven fights.

Sakonpat’s chance at a breakthrough performance was not to be, however, as KaenUbon ended it before he’d even gotten started. A handful of powerful and precise leg kicks were all it took to send Sakonpat home early, landing KaenUbon a first round TKO.



A couple details to note about the leg kicks here. First, fans of other combat sports often characterize leg kicks in Muay Thai as the sort of tree-chopping kicks with lots of hip turn over, but those tend not to be super common in Muay Thai. They’re more often employed by Brazilian strikers, who tend to set up their leg kicks with flurries of punches; the axe-chopping motion is more an adjustment to allow them to kick with power in close. The quick, rising style of leg kick that leave some hip behind that KaenUbon is throwing here are more common in Muay Thai, where kicking defense is a heavy focus and shaving time off your delivery is crucial to landing clean.

KaenUbon does a brilliant job of targeting the IT band, a strip of fibrous tissue that reinforces the muscles of the thigh and contributes to lateral knee stabilization.

His kicks sunk deep into that critical hit zone just above and outside the kneecap. If your opponent pounds this spot consistently enough, the muscles that flex and retract the knee just go on vacation and you wind up on the floor, unable to put weight on the leg. The way Sakonpat collapsed was indicative of that sort of damage - there was no brief hobbling around before a merciful stoppage, he went from fighting normally to suddenly unable to walk at all after the leg had been bashed in enough.

Sakonpat quickly started trying to check the kicks, but KaenUbon was throwing them from close range, and his quick form made it very difficult to see in time. But when Sakonpat did check, he would lift the leg up high to waist level and the kick would just crash into his calf, knocking it inside his stance anyway. The ideal way to check leg kicks is to lift the leg in a slighter motion while turning the knee out to meet them, as the bone-on-bone collision threatens to damage the softer parts of the kicker’s leg. Since the focus in Muay Thai in generally on defending the higher-scoring body kicks, one can usually score a few free hard leg kicks before the opponent adjusts. But Sakonpat didn’t adjust his checking form in time and stuck with the sort of check better suited to defending body kicks, which allowed KaenUbon to tee off on the leg with impunity.

Continued Here...​

 

[KBE6EKCTAH_CCP]

This Week In Muay Thai: KaenUbon vs Sakonpat​

KaenUbon Por.Lakboon is the top fighter at 112lbs and the current Rajadamnern title holder, winning the interim belt against Waewaw earlier this year, and becoming the official champ when Nadaka Yoshinari vacated his belt to move up to 115lbs. In his last four fights, KaenUbon beat three of the other top five fighters at 112lbs in Waewaw, Tubtimtong, and Forwin. KaenUbon made his first title defense against Sakonpat ChotBangsaen, who was 5-2 in his last seven fights.

Sakonpat’s chance at a breakthrough performance was not to be, however, as KaenUbon ended it before he’d even gotten started. A handful of powerful and precise leg kicks were all it took to send Sakonpat home early, landing KaenUbon a first round TKO.



A couple details to note about the leg kicks here. First, fans of other combat sports often characterize leg kicks in Muay Thai as the sort of tree-chopping kicks with lots of hip turn over, but those tend not to be super common in Muay Thai. They’re more often employed by Brazilian strikers, who tend to set up their leg kicks with flurries of punches; the axe-chopping motion is more an adjustment to allow them to kick with power in close. The quick, rising style of leg kick that leave some hip behind that KaenUbon is throwing here are more common in Muay Thai, where kicking defense is a heavy focus and shaving time off your delivery is crucial to landing clean.

KaenUbon does a brilliant job of targeting the IT band, a strip of fibrous tissue that reinforces the muscles of the thigh and contributes to lateral knee stabilization.

His kicks sunk deep into that critical hit zone just above and outside the kneecap. If your opponent pounds this spot consistently enough, the muscles that flex and retract the knee just go on vacation and you wind up on the floor, unable to put weight on the leg. The way Sakonpat collapsed was indicative of that sort of damage - there was no brief hobbling around before a merciful stoppage, he went from fighting normally to suddenly unable to walk at all after the leg had been bashed in enough.

Sakonpat quickly started trying to check the kicks, but KaenUbon was throwing them from close range, and his quick form made it very difficult to see in time. But when Sakonpat did check, he would lift the leg up high to waist level and the kick would just crash into his calf, knocking it inside his stance anyway. The ideal way to check leg kicks is to lift the leg in a slighter motion while turning the knee out to meet them, as the bone-on-bone collision threatens to damage the softer parts of the kicker’s leg. Since the focus in Muay Thai in generally on defending the higher-scoring body kicks, one can usually score a few free hard leg kicks before the opponent adjusts. But Sakonpat didn’t adjust his checking form in time and stuck with the sort of check better suited to defending body kicks, which allowed KaenUbon to tee off on the leg with impunity.

Continued Here...​

I agree that there are many types of leg kicks in MT. Also another misconception IMO is that you need to land with the middle of the shin. You can but there are other ways.

 

[The MM Analyst]

There weren't a lot of top fights this week so no weekly recap, but I wrote an article about one of the trickiest lead-leg kickers in Muay Thai right now, JJ Or.Pimonsri

JJ Or.Pimonsri's Versatile Lead Leg​

The rear middle kick is, in many ways, the quintessential weapon of Muay Thai. It directly attacks the opponent’s balance and center of gravity with a ton of stopping force, which is critical under a scoring system that prioritizes balance and poise. The open side round kick is one of the highest scoring strikes in Muay Thai, and that dynamic is why you see more converted southpaws in Muay Thai than tend to exist in other combat sports. If you’re a strong kicker, you may be taught to fight southpaw early on so that your rear kick naturally coincides with an orthodox opponent’s open side.

But when a kicker fights an opponent of the same stance as him, the rear kick falls on the closed side, kicking into the stronger back muscles and away from the squishy bits of the abdomen. The kick becomes less damaging and loses some of its balance-breaking potential, but it also becomes easier to catch and counter. How a kicker responds to that dynamic says a lot about their style. Some push onwards and keep relying on their rear kick, accepting that their kick will fall on the closed side. Kiatmoo9 fighters are perhaps the best example - Singdam, Superlek, and Rungnarai all fought heavy on the front foot, making it difficult to quickly lift the lead leg, but facilitating quick, powerful rear kicks. Others adjust their tactics and rely more on their lead leg kick, which falls on the open side against a same-stance opponent.

JJ Or.Pimonsri is a powerful and versatile kicker who kicks actively off both legs, but his lead leg body kick is of particular interest. The lead leg body kick tends to be more of a scalpel than a cudgel, inherently less powerful than the rear kick but capabable of quickly sneaking inside the elbow and catching opponents by surprise. One of its most frequent uses is as a quick, light counter to an opponent’s rear hand, sliding in on the rib as the elbow leaves the body to punch. Most proficient lead leg kickers use it as a tool of finesse and point scoring, but it can still pack a punch when thrown with more commitment.

Crucial to JJ’s ambidextrous kicking ability is a fairly upright, narrow, and balanced stance that allows him to quickly shift weight onto either leg. In a rear foot or lead foot heavy stance, it takes longer to shift weight off the loaded foot, making kicks off that leg more cumbersome. But JJ’s balanced stance allows him to pick away at kicking range with either leg, without having to first distract the opponent while he shifts his weight.

He regularly employs a switch kick at long range as a quick, low commitment option to score at long range and force opponents to open up.

The key to an effective switch kick is taking a very slight switch step. When learning the kick, pretty much everyone exaggerates the switching motion, bringing their lead leg too far back or jumping upwards, which causes the kick to be too slow and easily countered.

There’s a spectrum between speed and power where the switch step can be adjusted to suit each purpose, but even a power kick involves a switch much slighter than most expect. JJ is one of the fighters who optimizes toward power more than speed and his switch is still very slight, often bringing the feet only slightly further than parallel before turning his hip into the kick.



The switch step opens up his lead hip and allows it to be whipped into the kick with power. JJ’s rhythmic bouncing of the lead leg in his stance hides his switch, conditioning his opponent to the rhythm and suddenly breaking it with the kick.

When he wants to add even more concealment to the kick, JJ will shoot his lead leg out straight from his stance without first switching his feet. Typically, throwing the lead leg without a switch involves rocking the weight backwards onto the rear foot or leaning back slightly, allowing the backwards weight transfer to lift the leg into the opponent’s body. It’s a quick motion built for precision counters but largely lacking power. However, JJ has a unique adjustment to the form that allows him to get some stink on the kick.

Continued Here...​

 

[The MM Analyst]

This Week in Muay Thai: A New King is Crowned​

Kumandoi Petchyindee vs Khunsuklek Boomdeksian was the ifght to make in Muay Thai. Kumandoi is #2 on my Pound for Pound list, beating top competition without losing in Muay Thai for almost two years. Khunsuklek is a more recent entrant into elite Muay Thai, but his insane 40-fight win streak with wins over Paeyim and Pangtor was enough to get him the #4 spot on my Pound for Pound list. Since the recent fight between Chaila (#1) and View (#3) ended in a razor thin decision, a decisive win for either man would see him as the consensus top fighter in the sport.

Khunsuklek’s incredible balance and silky smooth kicking prowess was on display right from the opening bell. He deftly flowed between lead leg teeps and round kicks off both legs, assuming a balanced stance that allowed him to quickly shift weight in either direction.



He would time the lead leg body kick underneath Kumandoi’s right hand when he stepped in to punch, but he would also double-tap it by flicking out a light lead-leg kick first to goad him into throwing the rear hand, only to intercept it with the same kick. The rear body kick was also big for Khunsuklek all fight. Kumandoi aggressively walking him down left his body open, and Khunsuklek would pound the kick into his ribs, using it to set up kicking combos off both legs at times.

While Kumandoi had little success defending the kicks, he was intent on punishing and dissuading them with powerful strikes. He would follow Khunsuklek’s kicks back with combinations, knowing that Khunsuklek’s footwork would allow him to avoid the first punch, but betting that he’d be able to land somewhere amidst the flurry while Khunsuklek backed up.



Kumandoi found some success with counter combinations, but Khunsuklek also began to anticipate them. Khunsuklek began to step in off his rear kick and adopt a high guard to smother the combination work, then kick on the exit, ensuring he got off the first and last strike of the exchange.

While Khunsuklek’s body kicks were his main scoring weapon, he made frequent use of a light teep to the hip to jam up Kumandoi’s entries and prevent him from comfortably settling into a power punching rhythm.



Teeping the lead hip prevents weight from settline on the lead leg. This is super useful against a heavy puncher like Kumandoi, who has to transfer weight to his lead leg to load up a big left hook or to step into a right hand while moving forward. The teep is thrown very quick and light, so it leaves little time to read and counter. All it needs to do is knock the weight off the lead leg and give Khunsuklek a chance to regain distance, and after taking it a couple times it begins to stick in the mind of the puncher, whose weight transfers now include a moment of hesitation.

The defensive teep is one of Khunsuklek’s trademarks. He also uses it often after missing a committed kick to prevent the opponent from stepping in to counter, and he frustrated Kumandoi with that several times:



Khunsuklek’s excellent balance allows him to snap right back into a teep off the missed kick, as he’s able to control his kicks even when they don’t land. If your weight turns too far past your plant leg when the kick misses, the defensive teep isn’t available. He would quickly snap back into stance with a short teep that knocked Kumandoi off his pursuit. A few times he would even gracefully weave the rear leg back inside after missing a big kick, turning it into a little side kick or a shin barrier across the hips.

Initially Kumandoi looked to give ground in response to the kicks and come back in to counter. He would feint forward steps to draw out the kick, then skip back to avoid it. But Khunsuklek’s defensive teep killed his ability to counter off these sequences, and he eventually started accepting that he’d have to eat the kick in order to get his counters off. The defensive teep directly played into and facilitated Khunsuklek’s higher scoring offense.

While Kumandoi was able to land several big shots, his success was limited to moments while Khunsuklek had the superior control of space, largely deciding when and which engagements would take place. Kumandoi has always been a bit of a wildman, though in recent years he’s managed to graft a fair bit of craft onto his wild instincts. But when he fights slick defensive fighters like Khunsuklek or Phetsila, he seems to abandon the idea of beating them with craft and instead relies on his ability to hurt them.

Kumandoi was head hunting the whole fight, and Khunsuklek was able to weather a good deal of offense by taking a high guard and smothering in the pocket. It took great awareness from Khunsuklek to realize that stepping in when Kumandoi flung out his combos left him safer than backing up, but a committment to hitting the body could have made Kumandoi’s aggression count a bit more when he found his exchanges.

One of the more successful tactics Kumandoi happened upon was using his kicks to close distance into his hands:



When Kumandoi tried to enter the pocket from the outside with big punches, he often ended up falling over himself and giving Khunsuklek easy counters. But when he initiated punches with a distance closing kick or kick feint, he was able to get Khunsuklek thinking defensively and punish him. He didn’t get these off for free though - Kumandoi repeatedly used an inside leg kick to set up his right hand, and Khunsuklek managed to sneak in a few slick counter kicks by backing away from the leg kick and sliding his lead leg under the right hand.

Between an increased focus on closing distance with kicks and leveraging some of his success in the clinch, where he was able to toss Khunsuklek with an underhook at times, Kumandoi could certainly turn the tide in a rematch, which is likely to happen before too long.

After the fourth round, the scorecards had Khunsuklek with a 3-1 lead. Since Rajadamnern World Series has open scoring, both the viewers and Kumandoi’s corner knew he needed a finish to win. Kumandoi came out of the gate aggressive, intent on maximizing his chances of a finish.



He stormed toward Khunsuklek, refusing to give an inch, and looked to swarm him with combinations the whole round. He even tossed out a few wild spinning kicks - one of them got him countered with a clean headkick, but a minute later he managed to smack Khunsuklek clean in the chin with another. He ended the fight with a wild diving tornado kick that sent him crashing into the corner of the ring.

Continued Here...​

 

[the combat analyst]

Hey I really like your breakdowns and I noticed that your a member of the group the fight site.
Well I was wondering if I would possibly be allowed to join you guys in making combat sports breakdowns. I've already made two that I've posted on the stand up technique sherdog forum. I'm not looking to make money off of this for a while I just want to get into making combat sports breakdowns and I think your guys platform would be a good way for me to start. All I ask is that I stay anonymous as and go by my username the combat analyst.

And In case your wondering I am a life long martial artist who has trained in different styles. I feel like you don't need to hear me blabbering about my credentials just take a look at the breakdowns I've made and tell me what you think.

 

[The MM Analyst]

Hey I really like your breakdowns and I noticed that your a member of the group the fight site.
Well I was wondering if I would possibly be allowed to join you guys in making combat sports breakdowns. I've already made two that I've posted on the stand up technique sherdog forum. I'm not looking to make money off of this for a while I just want to get into making combat sports breakdowns and I think your guys platform would be a good way for me to start. All I ask is that I stay anonymous as and go by my username the combat analyst.

And In case your wondering I am a life long martial artist who has trained in different styles. I feel like you don't need to hear me blabbering about my credentials just take a look at the breakdowns I've made and tell me what you think.

Hey man! Just saw this, I checked out some of your breakdowns and enjoyed them. Right now the site isn't very active between a lot of the guys getting full time jobs / moving onto other things, and the guy that was doing most of the organizational work being in a migrant detention center after fleeing Russia, but they're still publishing some articles so they may be interested. Try dming @FightSitedotcom on twitter. I think @FenoxSky runs the account so you can send him a message too.