he didn't leave the sport early he was in it longer then Yodsanklai Yod's last Lumpinee title came when he was like 19 and the first when he was 15. Buakaw was just in a bad spot that his stablemate Namsaknoi was the champion at the time so he moved up and started to fight abroad.
it's hard to get those K-1 accomplishments when you're only giving one fight for them. Yod's style was suited better for K-1 then Buakaw's especially before Buakaw showed KO power in his punches. A fight under K-1 rules is alot more debatable then one under FTR. I could see Buakaw having an edge in kickboxing just due to his speed and putting combos together to out point him but I do think Yod has more power.
Yod has more power in his kicks, Buakaw has harder punches
bullshit
Yod is probably stronger but Buakaw has better technique to be honest. I'd rather eat a punch by Buakaw than by Yodsanklai, i think a punch by Buakaw would be more likely to KO me while a punch from Yod would be more likely to break my ribs.
I don't think either one of them really has strong punches, in their primes they both had great kicks, yod with the power and buakaw with the speed and versatility like you said. I actually think buakaw seemed like the stronger clincher too though
I really don't know how to comment to a post like this without sounding like a dick. What fights are you watching where Buakaw is showing better punching technique and are completely oblivious to Yodsanklai pre '13?
stronger in the clinch how who'd he fight in his prime where the clinch was allowed? He didn't fight any other Thais or pure Muay Thai guys during his K-1 run under full rules. Post K-1 he got the Thai Fight treatment not really a strong indicator when you're throwing low tier fighters around.
All fights, training videos etc
