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ONE Championship has been trying to get Muay Thai superstar, Tawanchai P.K. Saenchai, in the ring with pound-for-pound elite kickboxer, Superbon Singmawynn for a while now, but it never seemed to work out. The fight was first scheduled for October, but a Superbon leg injury moved it to November, where a Tawanchai viral infection pushed it further still into December.
But the third time proved the charm and discerning fans were treated to a fight that largely delivered on expectations. With both men operating primarily on the outside and possessing strong defensive fundamentals, the fight was never going to be a bloodbath, but we got to see some interesting kicking exchanges and tactical adjustments as each fighter tried to work out the other’s game.
A quick look at their stances will tell you what their primary weapons would be. Both Tawanchai and Superbon have a high, upright stance, signaling that they like to kick. But Superbon stands a little more narrow, while Tawanchai is a bit more set in his stance - legs just close enough together to keep his back leg underneath him when he throws out the lead-leg teep, but set enough that he can seamlessly step into powerful rear kicks. Superbon’s stance is geared more toward mobility. His rear leg lacks the immediacy of Tawanchai’s, but the narrow stance allows him to change angles very quickly in exchanges, finessing his way into sneaky punch-kick combinations.
The story of the fight, as is the story of most Tawanchai fights, was his open side kick. He established the body kick early and often, presenting it as a threat from the opening bell and constantly working to defuse Superbon’s responses and attempts to counter it. Superbon had remarkably little success defending or countering the kick as it came, the shrewd feints and quick release of Tawanchai’s leg concealing it well.
Instead, Superbon was mostly forced to rely on delayed counters, striking back after eating the kick. But Tawanchai came prepared to deal with them.
Initially Tawanchai would step in off his kick with extended hands, taking any return on his shoulders and smothering Superbon in the clinch. Stepping into the clinch after your offense is a great way to make a pot-shotting style work without exposing yourself to counters, as the clinch takes away the distance the opponent needs to fire off a counter. Then you can hold on for a referee separation and go right back to the outside, bypassing the need to worry about their offense in the pocket.
Superbon began looking to take the kick on his arm and fire off an overhand, but Tawanchai kept his guard up after kicking and took the punch on his forearms. Occasionally Superbon would try following up with a kick, but by the time he threw it Tawanchai was back at a safe distance. He also tried pivoting in the same direction of the kick with a lead hook, but was unable to read the kick well enough to time that consistently.
Tawanchai paired his kick with elbows well to dissuade Superbon from pursuing him and mix up the kick’s timing. If Superbon was able to force an exchange off the body kick, the elbow was there to meet him:
Early in the fight, Tawanchai sunk his weight down and stepped forward as if to kick, shifting into an elbow:
For the first few rounds, the fight took place entirely at a distance that favored Tawanchai, who is at home in clean, discrete attack-and-retreat patterns and possessed the sharper long-range offense. Superbon’s success came when he could create chaotic exchanges that allowed him to juke, pivot, and march into combinations off both sides of his body, combining punches and kicks, and denying Tawanchai the neat simplicity of his rear hand/rear leg mixup.
But for most of the fight, Superbon seemed reluctant to force close range engagements, instead acceding to Tawanchai’s outside fight, where he remained a step behind. Perhaps he expected to have more success on the counter, and it took him a while to adjust when he found himself unable to answer the body kick.
But one area Superbon did find success early was in countering Tawanchai’s rear-leg teep. When Tawanchai threw the teep, he would raise his knee and deflect it, knocking Tawanchai off balance and opening up a combination, or just parry it with his hand while skipping to the side, out of its path:
Superbon’s ability to counter the teep but failure to do the same with the body kick was a bit puzzling, because Tawanchai has always used the rear teep and body kick in tandem to disguise each other. He tends to use a split step to conceal both kicks behind a similar preliminary motion, which allows him to catch opponents with powerful teeps while they’re on one leg to check the round kick. But Superbon must have found a tell that wasn’t there on his body kick, as he was consistently able to get out of the teep’s linear path.
Tawanchai was able to adjust to that too, however:
Near the end of the second round, the sequence played out again with Superbon deflecting the teep and preparing a counter combination. But this time Tawanchai anticipated the kick following his hands and answered with a leg kick, taking out Superbon’s standing leg and his balance.
While Tawanchai wasn’t able to find his usual success with the rear teep, his lead leg teep played an important role in the fight.
He used the teep to prod at Superbon and enforce his distance on the outside, juggling him away or intercepting him when he tried to step in. Later on, once the threat of the teep was established, it became another setup for the body kick as Tawanchai would hop in behind a raised lead leg, showing the teep, before planting the leg instead and letting the body kick go.
After two rounds of getting outgunned on the outside, Superbon started pushing forward more to deny Tawanchai his distance, and he found increasing success in exchanges. Superbon took the lead more often, using his slower body kick to draw counters out of Tawanchai. But once Tawanchai took the bait and fired off a counter, he was forced into an exchange where Superbon could capitalize.
If you sit at range and let Tawanchai kick on his own initiative, they’re near impossible to catch. His stance and balance are so strong, and with the southpaw kick going into the open side of an orthodox opponent, it can cleanly retract away from the arm. But by putting Tawanchai under some duress, making him kick in an exchange with his weight a bit too far forward or back as he’s recovering from a defensive movement, the catch becomes easier.
But the third time proved the charm and discerning fans were treated to a fight that largely delivered on expectations. With both men operating primarily on the outside and possessing strong defensive fundamentals, the fight was never going to be a bloodbath, but we got to see some interesting kicking exchanges and tactical adjustments as each fighter tried to work out the other’s game.
A quick look at their stances will tell you what their primary weapons would be. Both Tawanchai and Superbon have a high, upright stance, signaling that they like to kick. But Superbon stands a little more narrow, while Tawanchai is a bit more set in his stance - legs just close enough together to keep his back leg underneath him when he throws out the lead-leg teep, but set enough that he can seamlessly step into powerful rear kicks. Superbon’s stance is geared more toward mobility. His rear leg lacks the immediacy of Tawanchai’s, but the narrow stance allows him to change angles very quickly in exchanges, finessing his way into sneaky punch-kick combinations.
The story of the fight, as is the story of most Tawanchai fights, was his open side kick. He established the body kick early and often, presenting it as a threat from the opening bell and constantly working to defuse Superbon’s responses and attempts to counter it. Superbon had remarkably little success defending or countering the kick as it came, the shrewd feints and quick release of Tawanchai’s leg concealing it well.
Instead, Superbon was mostly forced to rely on delayed counters, striking back after eating the kick. But Tawanchai came prepared to deal with them.
Initially Tawanchai would step in off his kick with extended hands, taking any return on his shoulders and smothering Superbon in the clinch. Stepping into the clinch after your offense is a great way to make a pot-shotting style work without exposing yourself to counters, as the clinch takes away the distance the opponent needs to fire off a counter. Then you can hold on for a referee separation and go right back to the outside, bypassing the need to worry about their offense in the pocket.
Superbon began looking to take the kick on his arm and fire off an overhand, but Tawanchai kept his guard up after kicking and took the punch on his forearms. Occasionally Superbon would try following up with a kick, but by the time he threw it Tawanchai was back at a safe distance. He also tried pivoting in the same direction of the kick with a lead hook, but was unable to read the kick well enough to time that consistently.
Tawanchai paired his kick with elbows well to dissuade Superbon from pursuing him and mix up the kick’s timing. If Superbon was able to force an exchange off the body kick, the elbow was there to meet him:
Early in the fight, Tawanchai sunk his weight down and stepped forward as if to kick, shifting into an elbow:
For the first few rounds, the fight took place entirely at a distance that favored Tawanchai, who is at home in clean, discrete attack-and-retreat patterns and possessed the sharper long-range offense. Superbon’s success came when he could create chaotic exchanges that allowed him to juke, pivot, and march into combinations off both sides of his body, combining punches and kicks, and denying Tawanchai the neat simplicity of his rear hand/rear leg mixup.
But for most of the fight, Superbon seemed reluctant to force close range engagements, instead acceding to Tawanchai’s outside fight, where he remained a step behind. Perhaps he expected to have more success on the counter, and it took him a while to adjust when he found himself unable to answer the body kick.
But one area Superbon did find success early was in countering Tawanchai’s rear-leg teep. When Tawanchai threw the teep, he would raise his knee and deflect it, knocking Tawanchai off balance and opening up a combination, or just parry it with his hand while skipping to the side, out of its path:
Superbon’s ability to counter the teep but failure to do the same with the body kick was a bit puzzling, because Tawanchai has always used the rear teep and body kick in tandem to disguise each other. He tends to use a split step to conceal both kicks behind a similar preliminary motion, which allows him to catch opponents with powerful teeps while they’re on one leg to check the round kick. But Superbon must have found a tell that wasn’t there on his body kick, as he was consistently able to get out of the teep’s linear path.
Tawanchai was able to adjust to that too, however:
Near the end of the second round, the sequence played out again with Superbon deflecting the teep and preparing a counter combination. But this time Tawanchai anticipated the kick following his hands and answered with a leg kick, taking out Superbon’s standing leg and his balance.
While Tawanchai wasn’t able to find his usual success with the rear teep, his lead leg teep played an important role in the fight.
He used the teep to prod at Superbon and enforce his distance on the outside, juggling him away or intercepting him when he tried to step in. Later on, once the threat of the teep was established, it became another setup for the body kick as Tawanchai would hop in behind a raised lead leg, showing the teep, before planting the leg instead and letting the body kick go.
After two rounds of getting outgunned on the outside, Superbon started pushing forward more to deny Tawanchai his distance, and he found increasing success in exchanges. Superbon took the lead more often, using his slower body kick to draw counters out of Tawanchai. But once Tawanchai took the bait and fired off a counter, he was forced into an exchange where Superbon could capitalize.
If you sit at range and let Tawanchai kick on his own initiative, they’re near impossible to catch. His stance and balance are so strong, and with the southpaw kick going into the open side of an orthodox opponent, it can cleanly retract away from the arm. But by putting Tawanchai under some duress, making him kick in an exchange with his weight a bit too far forward or back as he’s recovering from a defensive movement, the catch becomes easier.
