Recent fights/results/news from ONE Championship

[Kanka]

Look at fighter of the year 2019 nuenglanglek. Most of the fighters he beat in 2019 he was bigger than. Yodlekpet, muangthai, kulabdam. Not taking anything away from nuenglanglek he deserved to win.

I don't know if he was that much bigger, he was just fighting at 135 lbs until recently. Also the fact that they fought at 144 lbs doesn't really say much, it's not their regular weight class. I mean Saeksan and Tanonchai just fought at 140 lbs, but we know Saeksans regular weight class is around 135 lbs.

Even for thais such as Tawanchai, Kulabdam and Nuenglanlek although they won the fighter of the year award, do not have the same legacy as many other fighters who were elite at many different weight classes, not just 135-140 lbs. And i say that although they are thai, so the argument that "thai fanboys will say this and that" is not true in my case.

Weight and size are different but i believe size is most important.

Rafi was bigger both in size and weight (i mean actual weight, not the weigh-in weight) against Yodlekpet and Sangmanee and still took a beating. That is not discrediting anything but just facts. It doesn't matter if he is thai or not.

 

[Mickf]

I don't know if he was that much bigger, he was just fighting at 135 lbs until recently. Also the fact that they fought at 144 lbs doesn't really say much, it's not their regular weight class. I mean Saeksan and Tanonchai just fought at 140 lbs, but we know Saeksans regular weight class is around 135 lbs.

Even for thais such as Tawanchai, Kulabdam and Nuenglanlek although they won the fighter of the year award, do not have the same legacy as many other fighters who were elite at many different weight classes, not just 135-140 lbs. And i say that although they are thai, so the argument that "thai fanboys will say this and that" is not true in my case.

Rafi was bigger both in size and weight (i mean actual weight, not the weigh-in weight) against Yodlekpet and Sangmanee and still took a beating. That is not discrediting anything but just facts. It doesn't matter if he is thai or not.

To be honest with you. I have always ťhought you are reasonable enough in your assesments of foreign fighters. Same with the majority of people on here. There is just a few people on here and other muay thai related websites etc. Who are pretty harsh in their assesment of foreign fighters. They are very quick to be critical and never really praise foreign fighters.

 

[Mickf]

I don't know if he was that much bigger, he was just fighting at 135 lbs until recently. Also the fact that they fought at 144 lbs doesn't really say much, it's not their regular weight class. I mean Saeksan and Tanonchai just fought at 140 lbs, but we know Saeksans regular weight class is around 135 lbs.

Even for thais such as Tawanchai, Kulabdam and Nuenglanlek although they won the fighter of the year award, do not have the same legacy as many other fighters who were elite at many different weight classes, not just 135-140 lbs. And i say that although they are thai, so the argument that "thai fanboys will say this and that" is not true in my case.

Rafi was bigger both in size and weight (i mean actual weight, not the weigh-in weight) against Yodlekpet and Sangmanee and still took a beating. That is not discrediting anything but just facts. It doesn't matter if he is thai or not.

Also regarding nuenglanglek he was meant to fight rafi recently enough if i remeber correctly. Think rafi pulled out with an injury. I think end of last year. I think their was a picture of them beside each other in promotion for the fight. They looked the same size. In my opinion neunglanglek was the clear favourite for the fight. But if rafi won their would always be one or two making some excuse.

 

[UWanaPlayDaGame]

tbh I never bought too much into Kulabdam hype. Sangmanee will handle him easily in the rematch. I did believe he was going to beat Rodlek but in hindsight this was a bad matchup for Kulabdam; Nong-O will put a clinic on him though he’s on another level.

I’m not arguing that the long break didn’t influence fighters’ training and conditioning but none of the recent results are that much surprising IMO. Tawanchai beat Nuenglanglek; Superbon beat Sittichai in a real close fight; Kulabdam scored a huge KO with tiny gloves; Rodlek outscrapped Kulabdam; is any of this that much crazy?

 

[UWanaPlayDaGame]

Also regarding nuenglanglek he was meant to fight rafi recently enough if i remeber correctly. Think rafi pulled out with an injury. I think end of last year. I think their was a picture of them beside each other in promotion for the fight. They looked the same size. In my opinion neunglanglek was the clear favourite for the fight. But if rafi won their would always be one or two making some excuse.

I’m awful at assessing fighters’ size or even recalling what weight they fight at but iirc Rafi is much bigger than Nuenglanglek; if Rafi won that fight it would be a great name on his record but the size issue would always be considered; IMO both Rafi and Youssef are great fighters they just don’t break into that select elite group. They would have to fight top competition more consistently at even weights but they’re too big to do that- not their fault but it is what it is.

 

[Kanka]

To be honest with you. I have always ťhought you are reasonable enough in your assesments of foreign fighters. Same with the majority of people on here. There is just a few people on here and other muay thai related websites etc. Who are pretty harsh in their assesment of foreign fighters. They are very quick to be critical and never really praise foreign fighters.

I'd say some of it is a "reaction" to the unproportional amount of praise they receive compared to their level of skill/acomplishment. It was the samw with the Sitmonchai fighters here a while back. Some people were writing that they were overhyped etc.

 

[Megalodon]

Is Rafi ever going to fight in ONE or has that pretty much passed?

I remember he didn't pass the medical or something, right?

 

[Tayski]

Such as? I'm not sure I've seen a great MT fight outside of the Thai Circuit.

There's a bias to anything that has pre fight video packages, ramps, screaming announcers, and other forms of artifice. You'll think what your watching is great even if it's not. I was told Rodtang vs Haggerty 1 was some monumental fight, though it was far from it. It was an action Thai against a game foreigner (this is the key; OMG A WHITE GUY!!!!) that ended up being a solid fight.

Yet this platform (ONE) hasn't produced a legitimately good fight or influenced the fighters to use supposed newly unrestricted techniques. They're less engaged in ONE than they are in the stadiums, just as it often is when they fight abroad in whatever promotion. These fights have little meaning to their reputations in Thailand, so basically they're just on vacation. For so long we were hearing Jay go on about science lab Superlek against white dudes -- and when it happens, the fights are dreadful. Why? Cause it's a trip.

I'm saying it's sadistic in that in his ideal world he would hope for the crumbling of the sport just so the best Thais could fight 3 times a year in bullshit fights in a promotion that that could just as well go away at any time.

There has been great MT fights outside of the Thai circuit, but of course you can disagree as it all remains subjective.

That bias you talk about in terms of pre fighgt video packages, ramps and screaming announcers is similar to the elitists bias you have when it comes to stadium MT with Thai commentary and the gamblers going nuts in the stadiums at every strike because they've got money on the line.

There has been some good One FC fights over the last few weeks / months which didn't involve a Thai vs a farang. You can tell me all you want that One hasn't produced good fights or influenced the fighters to fight differently or that they're less engaged in ONE than they are in the stadium, but I think Kulabdam's KO of Sangmanee in round 1 as a prime example would beg to differ. I think you're delusional if you think that what happened has little meaning to Sangmanee's career in Thailand especially considering the event was in Bangkok, or that Sangmanee was just on a vacation trip to lalaland. ONE FC isn't Thai Fight or All Star Fight or even Yakkao.

The irony in your posting is that you call people biased or that they're sadistic for wishing ONE FC does great, while in fact you're the one here's who's sad enough to hope ONE FC doesn't work out and fighters can just stick to the stadiums where they get battered nearly every week for little money and are under the gamblers' control.

If you really love the sport you'd be happy both exist side by side and fighters have more options to make more money than just the stadiums where their skills on display are watched primarily by gamblers who are just here to bet on them like it's cock fighting or by the very few elitists like the people on this forum who watch the fights for free online.

If you really love the sport, you'd love for it to grow internationally and those amazingly skilled Thais you so often praise to be recognised and paid their due.

 

[Kanka]

How can they be on vacation if they make good money for winning

 

[Mickf]

I thought i saw somewhere that rodtang got $125,000 dollars in his last fight. Can anyone else confirm this?
How many fights would he have to fight in the stadiums to get that.

 

[UWanaPlayDaGame]

I thought i saw somewhere that rodtang got $125,000 dollars in his last fight. Can anyone else confirm this?
How many fights would he have to fight in the stadiums to get that.

7 million bath is what I heard. That amounts to 56 baht to one dollar which sounds totally reasonable under current financial frameworks.

 

[Mickf]

7 million bath is what I heard. That amounts to 56 baht to one dollar which sounds totally reasonable under current financial frameworks.

Wow 7 million baht is $225,000 american dollars.
He would be fighting untill he is 90 to get that in the stadiums.

 

[DastardlyMass]

7million baht would be like $210k
I highly doubt he got more than $50-75k US at the very most for his last fight.
His original one fc contact was for I think 500k baht which is like $15k US a fight so I really doubt he now makes 10-15 times that amount 5 fights later. Also there is no other promotion paying anywhere near that kind of money for a 135lb muay thai bout and rodtang is not getting crazy tv ratings so I highly doubt his purse is anywhere near what has been said lately

 

[UWanaPlayDaGame]

the 7 million baht figure comes from Yoksutai podcast. could be flat out wrong; could be overall pay from One+sponsors+gym boss bonus, etc. I just checked and he just referred to it as "his purse was 7 million baht" so that's all we got.

BTW the search returned this video from a couple years ago which is simply awesome and has a measly 11k views:

 

[Megalodon]

Superlek is fighting Fahdi Khaled under KB rules next week. Pretty strange, Rodtang/Superlek is the fight to make, hopefully Superlek doesn't lose.

 

[machida90]

Superlek is fighting Fahdi Khaled under KB rules next week. Pretty strange, Rodtang/Superlek is the fight to make, hopefully Superlek doesn't lose.

This is the weakest card since they returned.
A weak main event and Superlek in a KB fight that makes no sense.

 

[Snubnoze707]

This is the weakest card since they returned.
A weak main event and Superlek in a KB fight that makes no sense.

Agreed. Kind of kills the momentum they had going over the last 3 or so broadcasts.

 

[Kanka]

One of the trainers at Kiatmookao said Superlek had more potential for kickboxing than Petch or something like that, but i doubt it.

Maybe it was even im the video that @UWanaPlayDaGame posted, will check later.

 

[Monte Moku]

One of the trainers at Kiatmookao said Superlek had more potential for kickboxing than Petch or something like that, but i doubt it.

Maybe it was even im the video that @UWanaPlayDaGame posted, will check later.

Yep he did in the video @ 17:10. His reasoning was that Superlek has more power than Petch, so he thinks he has more potential to win fights overseas.

 

[Enkii]

Superlek doesn't seem to have the right style for Kickboxing. At least not yet. I much prefer him under muaythai but if he is planning on doing this again he needs to make a lot more adjustments.

Also Michael Schiavello commentating really annoyed me. Going on about Superlek being a world champion and this would be an upset if he lost. No it wouldn't. Do you not understand there's a difference between muaythai and kickboxing and that this was Superleks Kickboxing debut? If that was a muaythai fight it would look a lot different. Being a great muaythai fighter doesn't automatically make you a great kickboxer and vice versa the same way you have great olympic amateur boxers with hundreds of bouts who don't do as well when they transition to pro boxing. And that's not a perfect example since muaythai is a lot more different to kickboxing than amateur boxing is to pro boxing.

He was then acting as if Fahdi was doing better than he was. He landed a great punch in the first but I didn't see anything else that special. Is was more due to Superlek being a noob and having to go back to tying up because it was all alien for him.