Some Kickboxing fights to watch for Boxing/MMA fans

I struggle to imagine how Rico would have done in the 90s. Like you, I've never really been that impressed by him, and find him pretty flawed and inconsistent in his performances. He does most everything well enough, but there's just no spark in him that makes me think he'd stand a chance against a prime Hoost or Aerts or even someone like Bernardo. Maybe that's nostalgia or bias talking though.

 

Finally got around to watching this one. That was a very impressive victory for Masaaki Noiri. Tawanchai was quite sharp in this fight. He was doing a beautiful job of landing left kicks to the body, countering Noiri's kicks with his own low kicks, and chaining punches off of his left kick,etc. He was controlling the ring with pivots and lateral movement off his left hooks, as well as keeping him at range with his teeps, forcing Noiri fight from long distance for the first two rounds. But then Masaaki just timed him perfectly, twice, with his left hook when Tawanchai stepped in with a knee.

I've always thought Masaaki Noiri was an excellent talent. He's very exciting to watch. Unfortunately, he has a big problem with inconsistency, but when he's on form, he is a very good fighter. He dropped a couple of fights in ONE. A loss to Sitthichai is nothing to be ashamed of, but then lost to a no-name fighter. It's good to see him finally come through on the big stage against a class opponent.

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It's definitely an uphill battle for Artem, for sure. We agree on that. But I could foresee a scenario where he outslicks him to a close decision victory. 40% odds might have been a little generous, though. We'll just have to see.

 

This is just a little short video a Japanese kickboxer I saw. Pretty amazing kicking dexterity and coordination from a female fighter. And she's pretty cute to boot.

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Jonathan Di Bella vs Sam-A Gaiyanghadao was a pretty underrated scrap. This fight was for the ONE Interim Strawweight Kickboxing World Title.

Di Bella was very effective using his jab to set up his strikes in this fight. He would use a double jab feint to set up the left leg kick. Other times, he would land solid jabs and land brutal leg kicks behind it. A lot of Di Bella’s leg kicks, especially early on, were to the calf as well which did a lot of damage and had an immediate impact on Sam-A’s movement. At 4:35 of the video, Jonathan landed 6 leg kicks in row in quick succession doing significant damage to his opponent’s front leg.

He would feint upstairs with a jab and then drop a nice left straight to the body. Jonathan would also use his to safely close the range and land hooks to the both, alternating punches to opponent’s right and left side. The fear of the jab also helped him set up naked left straights to the head. Other times, he would come in with a hard right jab, left straight, knocking Sam-A’s back. Di Bella would also catch Sam-A effectively with that right jab feint to left cross because Sam-A would sometimes retreat in a straight line (like at 11:58 of the video). He also hut him at 12:34 when he feinted with the right and landed a left hook to the bread basket.

Jonathan Di Bella’s best punch is his lead right hook and he was masterful using it throughout this fight. He was countering beautifully with that shot. At 6:31 of the video, Sam-A landed a left cross, but Di Bella pulled his head to take away its power while simultaneously countering right his lead left hook. It was near perfect timing. The blow badly hurt Sam-A, forcing him to backpedal into the corner. Di Bella followed up with some excellent left crosses, a nice left knee to the body and a short left uppercut to boot. Sam-A got punished by Di Bella’s right hook when he opened up with his left cross on more than a few occasions. Jonathan also countered Sam-A’s leg kicks with that right hook as well pretty effectively. He clipped Sam-A with a nice counter right hook at 14:25 after Sam-A was lazily feeling out with his lead jab and paid the price for it.

Di Bella would chain left leg kicks after his right hook, or conversely land a right hook after his leg kicks. He hurt Sam-A at 16:42 with that left low kick and right head hook combination.

Sam-A was also extremely effective with the his left leg kicks throughout the fight, albeit slightly less than Di Bella. Later in the fight, Di Bella’s offense started to slow down from that punishment. The announcers even took notice that Di Bella wasn’t stepping in with his jab as much, presumably to avoid taking more full powered leg kicks while sitting down on his weight.

Both fighters would occasionally counter their opponent’s leg kicks with their own but that wasn’t a major dynamic of this fight.

Gaiyanghadao landed a lot of really solid left roundhouse kicks to the body as well. He was effective countering with these body kick. Sometimes, when Jonathan overreached with a left cross, Sam-A would step back and land that left kick right to the ribs. However, a lot of these were naked kicks. It could have served him better if he had chained these at the end of some punching combinations as well.

Sam-A had some success landing his left cross, especially ones from shorter range during the later portions of the fight. He countered Di Bella in-between his punches a few times with that shot. Sam-A also started to land a few effective knees to the body in the later rounds, but it just wasn’t enough to shift the tide of the fight.

This was a really fun, grueling fight from both gentleman. Sam-A put on an impressive performance for a 41-year-old fighter and really made Di Bella work hard for this victory. I still scored it (50-45), but you could have maybe given Sam-A the fourth round or had it a 10-10 instead. I love Di Bella as a fighter. He always brings it every time he fights.

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Sangmanee Sor Tienpo vs Chalam Parunchai was back and forth war for the Rajadamnern Stadium Lightweight (135 lbs) title. Both of their styles matched up and flowed very well against each other, providing a technical yet action packed fight.

Both fighters came out looking to establish their rear roundhouse body kicks, Sangmanee with his left and Chalam with his right. They both were very successful blasting these kicks against the side of their opponent’s midsection throughout the course of the fight. They were both very on point with their kicking counters, often blocking or stepping back from(or sometimes just eating) their opponent’s first kick and then landing a clean kick of their own. Sangmanee in particular did a good job with these kicking counters. At 3:53, Sangmanee missed a kick that Chalam backed away from. Then Chalam landed a right body kick, missed with his right cross. Then he followed up with a clean left jab and then landed another hard right roundhouse kick to the body to punctuate the combination.

Neither man focused much on kicking their opponent’s leg as is often the case in southpaw versus orthodox matchups. But out of the two fighters, Chalam landed more of them. At 3:32 of the video, he first landed a right inside leg kick and then doubled up to the body with it. Very slick. In contrast, when Sangmanee tried to double up his kicks, Chalam was often quick to respond, checking both of them.

Chalam routinely led with his straight right, and then followed up with his left jab. This was a very effective tactic from the Thai fighter. Even when his right missed, he would catch Sangmanee flush with these follow up jabs. But Sangmanee did adjust to this approach at 6:49, parrying the right cross, avoiding the swivel jab and then landing his own left cross counter.

Chalam was very effective either faking, or throwing, a rear front kick to step into a southpaw stance, and then land a right jab from this position.

Parunchai varied up his boxing attacks later in the fight. Instead of leading with a right cross to the head, the started to target it to the body which helped him set up his follow up left hook to right cross. Sometimes he would throw naked left straight to the body which helped him attack Sangmanee body. He threw some vicious left hook, right cross combinations upstairs as well. He hurt Sangmanee with this on more than one occasion. He also used the right cross to the body to set up some hard left uppercuts. He was very creative in this fight, not just with his boxing but his whole muay thai attack.

From the second round on, Chalam increasingly made efficient use of hard step-in knees. At the beginning of the third round (10:37), he faked a left kick and then stepped in with a crushing right knee to the middle of the stomach. He also started unleashing his elbows when they began tying up in the clinch. At 15:24, he stepped in with a left knee to the body and brutal right elbow behind it.

Chalam really brutalized Sangmanee with knees in the fourth round. You could see Sangmanee’s breathing hard with his mouth open from all the body abuse and the high pace of the fight.

Chalam also started to occasionally catch Sangmanee’s kicks and counter with right hooks. At 13:17, Sangmanee landed a kick that Chalam caught. He countered with a right hook, doubled up with a right elbow and then touched him with a short left hook at the end of the exchange.

Sangmanee Sor Tienpo had success landing his straight left hand, often throwing them as single shots. At 7:55, Sangmanee landed a left body kick, waited a half beat, and then lunged forward, landing his left cross. But Chalam immediately countered with a right knee, and a right cross at point blank range which landed flush. This fight had a lot of fun exchanges like this.

This was a great fight, but I had a huge problem with the decision. I thought Chalam Parunchai won four rounds to one. The first three rounds were close, so it could have maybe been three rounds to two. Still, sometimes muay thai decisions completely baffle me and this was one of those. You could see that Chalam was devastated when they read out the scorecards.

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Today I want to share with you guys another excellent muay thai fight. Petchsaman Sor. Saman Garment fought Rittidet Lookjaoporrongtom for the Rajadamnern Stadium Super Bantamweight Title.

Both fighters immediately established their rear left kicks to their opponent’s body, which began a primary weapon for each of them throughout the course of the fight. They both cleverly used their boxing to set up safe entries for landing their roundhouse kicks, both to the legs and to the body. They each used a lot of the classic tricks in this fight. Doubling up with their kicks to the same side. Immediately countering their opponents kick with a kick of their own. There was a lot of kick, counter, and then countering the counter in this fight.

At 4:34 of the video, Rittidet landed a left body kick, which Petchsaman immediately countered but then Rittidet countered the counter by doubling with two more quick left roundhouses to the body. At 7:02, Petchsaman stepped forward into an orthodox stance, and then fired off a massive right roundhouse kick to the rib cage. Rittidet was also occasionally effective at throwing kicking combinations, where he would switch sides, going right to left.

Petchsaman used a beautiful lean back pull counter to avoid some of Rittidet’s kicks and then immediately counter back with hard left body kicks and leg kicks to his overstretched opponent. You could tell that his opponent became very wary of these counters which slowed down a lot of his offense. At 1:59 of the video, Rittidet threw a left kick, which Petchsaman leaned his legs back from. Then Petchsaman immediately countered with a left head kick. The kick kind of landed with half of the foot, so it didn’t have full impact, but it still did damage to his opponent.

Petchsaman landed quite a few head kicks, both with his rear left and his lead right. At 3:16, he checked his opponent’s left kick, paused, and then launched a right lead switch kick to the side of the head. On a few occasions, even with Rittidet managed to block them, a lot of the power still got through.

Although using it pretty sparingly, Petchsaman was very effective with his southpaw jab when he decided to unleash it. He would double and triple up those jabs in quick flurries, with most of them landing flush on Rittidet’s face. Petchsaman also used a spearing left straight to good effect in the fight. He often threw them as singular shots, catching his opponent by surprise. At 6:13, Petchsaman lead with a clean left straight and then landed a right knee to the body behind it.

Petchsaman stayed disciplined and made a point to continually throw his right teep to the body, both to score and to disrupt his opponent’s rhythm. There were times that Rittidet managed to back Petchsaman into a corner, but Petchsaman just effortlessly kept him at bay with stabbing front kicks until he created the space needed to circle out. A good front kick can make the difference between a good fighter and a really good fighter.

In the early rounds, Rittidet Lookjaoporrongtom did a better job of targeting his opponent’s legs than Petchsaman did. In this stage of the ight, Petchsaman focused mostly on landing body kicks. However, in the fourth round, Petchsaman changed up his strategy and began to heavily target Rittidet’s front leg with his left rear roundhouse kicks. This change immediately paid dividends as he began to hurt Rittidet repeatedly to the legs, forcing him to remain largely passive trying to check Petchsaman‘s kicks. However, even when Rittidet managed to check the kicks, Petchsaman still dished out significant damage by targeting the calf.

Rittidet Lookjaoporrongtom has some success landing his left elbow during heated exchanges. He would use a left punch to try to double up with a left elbow, but Petchsaman did a good job blocking a lot of these. Still, some of his elbows did get through. He also did some good work landing knee strikes to the body from these clinches as well. The problem was that there weren’t that many clinch situations in this fight. He might have been better off trying to force the fight into closer quarters more often.

In the fifth round, Rittidet, realizing he was behind on points, began to retreat towards the ropes. He was trying to bait Petchsaman into coming forward and then blasting him with a left head kick to get a much needed knockout. However, Petchsaman was wise to this tactic, and showed great pose in blocking every one of those potential fighter enders. It was a good idea on Rittidet’s part, but Petchsaman was too smart to fall for it.

I really enjoyed this fight. It had a lot of striking variety and a good back and forth flow to it. I have to give Petchsaman Sor. Saman Garment credit. He was pretty impressive in this fight. His opponent gave stiff resistance, but, besides perhaps in the second round, he never let his opponent take over the momentum of the fight.

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Just a short video. This was a pretty sick move, though. When your opponent rolls underneath your right hand and moves to the right, you can lead him right into your right head kick.

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Tapaokaew Singmawynn recently retained his Rajadamnern Stadium Welterweight (147 lbs) title in an absolute slobberknocker against Nuenglanlek Jitmuangnon. If you like a good old-fashioned blood and guts war, you’ll probably enjoy this one.

Tapaokaew came out controlling the fight in the first round by repeatedly firing his left teep into Nuenglanlek’s stomach. This helped him set up his right roundhouse kicks to his opponent’s lead leg and midsection. He would feint his left teep by lifting his leg, and then smashed his right roundhouse kicks into his opponent’s left flank. He would also use left teeps after landing right kicks in order to create distance and prevent incoming counters. Every once in a while throughout the fight, Tapaokaew would mix in a left switch kick to Nuenglanlek body as well.

Nuenglanlek returned the favor with his own right kicks to Tapaokaew’s legs and body, but it was clear which of the two fighters was getting the better of it. Tapaokaew also did a good job of periodically checking Nuenglanlek’s kicks which reduced the damage he sustained. Although, sometimes, Nuenglanlek would wait on Tapaokaew’s punches and counter with hard leg kicks while his opponent’s weight was planted on his front foot.

In the opening round, Tapaokaew did a good job landing some 1-2 combinations or feinting with his left to land his long right straights. He would also feint or land with his left jab and then drop a right straight to the belly.

In the first round, Nuenglanlek landed some nice jabs and right hands, but these were too often singular shots. He was competitive, but he struggled to get a consistent rhythm going in the opening stanza.

In the second round, the fight drastically changed. Nuenglanlek began stepping forward, feinting his left jab, and then landing crushing right elbows to the side of his opponent’s face. He hurt Tapaokaew early in the round (at 6:33 of the video) and began teeing off with right elbows while his opponent desperately tried to clinch.

Tapaokaew began fighting back in the clinch with left knees to the stomach. These blows were effectively but they had negligible impact in comparison to his opponent’s crushing elbows.

Nuenglanlek also began to time Tapaokaew coming forward with these elbows, effectively countering his attempts to pressure. Tapaokaew landed some hard right hands of his own but he kept taking far more damage in return from his opponent’s elbows. At this point, it seemed likely that Nuenglanlek would not only win this fight, but even brutally finish his gallant opponent. Tapaokaew left eye began rapidly swelling from all this damage.

In the third round, Tapaokaew made a critical adjustment which swung the fight back in his favor. He began using a cross guard defense while coming forward. His right foreman began deflecting and blocking his opponent’s right elbows. Sure, some of them continued to get through, landing underneath to his throat and chin or over the top across his temple. But this one change effectively neutralized Nuenglanlek’s attack, forcing the Thai to largely abandon his best weapon. He started landing some of these elbows to the body instead, but Tapaokaew was clearly content to accept this trade. This constant pressure made it far more difficult for Nuenglanlek to set up his attacks.

Tapaokaew also realized that in order to win this fight, he would have to continuously pressure his opponent backwards, initiate the clinch, and punish his body with brutalizing knees. He landed these knees with both his left and right legs. This change in strategy immediately paid dividends. He no longer tried to fight at distance with teeps, but he would sometimes use his teep to close the distance for clinch entries. There were times, however, where Tapaokaew would land three or four teeps in a row to his exhausted fighters. These stabbing front kicks considerably added to the cumulative body damage. He would get control of his opponent’s neck and arm and land barrages of unanswered knees. A few times, Tapaokaew would land a few punches and then follow up with a step in knee to the body. He refused to give his opponent’s wounded body a respite.

Tapaokaew started landing looping right hands, while sometimes moving his head offline to avoid his opponent’s elbows, whenever the two fighters separated. Tapaokaew began using his jab to set up right and left hook combination to the body. Tapaokaew even started to land a few of his own elbows, both with his lead left and rear right.

By the end of the round, it was clear the champion had regained control. In the fourth round, it was much more of the same. Tapaokaew continued to brutalize his opponent’s body with barrage of knees, but Nuenglanlek started to fire back at least some of his own. His torso was getting absolutely torn apart though.

The two fighters entered into more punching exchanges in-between the punishing clinches. These exchanges were often sloppy but they were very entertaining with Tapaokaew routinely getting the best of the action. The both traded looping right hands over and over, but Tapaokaew began mixing in left and right uppercuts which proved very effective. Still, Tapaokaew was smart enough not to stay at distance for long. Tapaokaew would land his punches and then go right back into the clinch, once again punishing his opponent’s mid-section. In one of these punching exchanges at 17:59, Tapaokaew mixed in a nice right head kick.

The fifth round played out much like the fourth but even more one sided in Tapaokaew’s favor. The knees to the body from 20:30 to 20:49 was a great encapsulation of the theme of the fight. The final exchange of the fight, from 22:30 to 22:57, was a perfect crescendo for this blood and guts war. Tapaokaew step in left knees were absolutely soul crushing.

This wasn’t the most technical fight you will ever see, but it lacked nothing in terms of championship grit. And despite some of its slaphappy violence, the fight did have some meaningful adjustments and tactics throughout the contest. I gotta give Tapaokaew a lot of credit for turning the fight around after the disastrous second round and drowning his opponent in deep waters.

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