“It was a war” - Tawanchai credits his youth for helping him outlast Petchmorakot Petchyindee at ONE 161

Tawanchai PK. Saenchai scored the biggest win of his career in the ONE 161 headliner, defeating Petchmorakot Petchyindee to capture the ONE featherweight Muay Thai world championship. The two fighters went to war in a 25-minute instant classic that had fans around the world losing their minds on social media.

In the end, the younger of the two competitors came out on top, earning his third straight and most important victory under the ONE Championship banner. Sharing his thoughts on the victory with the promotion, Tawanchai suggested that it all came down to stamina in the later rounds of their memorable Muay Thai war.

“In rounds one and two, I still played along with him because I knew that he would go all-out in rounds three or four, so I had to prepare for this. It was a war. And it was very close. But thanks to my youth and freshness, it gave me a slight advantage over him in terms of energy.”

Tawanchai PK. Saenchai admitted that he too was exhausted in the later rounds, but pushed through the fatigue knowing it would be the survival of the fittest.

“He was obviously out of gas. I was exhausted too, but I gritted my teeth and continued to fight. It was a battle between grit and gut.”

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Tawanchai PK.Saenchai has his eyes on becoming a two-sport world champion

Despite still reveling in his world title win at ONE 161, the young Muay Thai star is already looking ahead to a possible reign as a two-sport world champion.

In an interview with the South China Morning Post, Tawanchai PK. Saenchai revealed that he would like to try his hand at kickboxing inside the circle, potentially challenging the reigning featherweight kickboxing world champion.

"Yes, I want to try kickboxing and I have a goal of becoming a two-belt world champion in the kickboxing division, especially in this division, there are a lot of high-level fighters."

Catch the full interview below:

Of course, the current king of the featherweight kickboxing division is none other than perhaps the best kickboxer in the world today, Superbon Singha Mawynn. Interestingly enough, Superbon is listed as the No.2-ranked featherweight Muay Thai contender.

There is certainly a strong possibility that these two Thai warriors will square off in a super fight at some point, but the question is, who will put their title on the line?