Tawanchai aware of his handicap in kickboxing: “I couldn’t use many tricks that I normally rely on”

Tawanchai PK Saenchai is certainly one of the most gifted Muay Thai artists of all time, yet he admitted to being limited when he took a step into the kickboxing realm in his previous fight.

The reigning ONE featherweight Muay Thai world champion took a brief sojourn to kickboxing last time out, when he stopped Georgian power striker Davit Kiria at ONE Fight Night 13.

Tawanchai’s victory was one of the best knockout wins of the year when he shattered Kiria’s right arm with a sickening roundhouse kick. Despite his highlight reel win, Tawanchai said he felt handicapped when he faced Kiria.

In an interview for Uppertalk with Antoine Pinto, Tawanchai revealed that he took a bit of time adjusting to kickboxing’s ruleset.

He said:

“Am I afraid? No. I just gotta try it out. The steps are different, people say they aren’t but it really is different. For me, I’m a technical type, but I couldn’t reel them in [like catching kicks in Muay Thai]. I couldn’t even throw my elbows, even with so many openings. I couldn’t use many tricks that I normally rely on in Muay Thai.”

Tawanchai was visibly struggling with the ruleset, and he left himself open to Kiria’s boxing in the opening round. The world champion that he is, the 24-year-old quickly found his rhythm and had Kiria on the back foot.

By the time the third round started, Tawanchai was heated up and the highlight reel knockout seemed inevitable.

Following his technical knockout win over Kiria, the Thai superstar will step into kickboxing once more in his next bout.

Tawanchai will face ‘Smokin’’ Jo Nattawut in a featherweight kickboxing contest at ONE Fight Night 15 this Friday, US primetime, at the iconic Lumpinee Boxing Stadium.

The Bangkok card is available live and free to all Prime Video subscribers in North America.

Watch Tawanchai's entire interview below: