WATCH: How Tawanchai became one of Muay Thai’s most-feared fighters

Tawanchai PK.Saenchai might be seen as a young fighter, but he's accomplished more than most Muay Thai fighters have in their whole lifetimes.

The 23-year-old was the focus of a feature released by ONE Championship about the story of Tawanchai’s rise before entering ONE.

Watch the full video below:

Tawanchai explains how he found Muay Thai in an upbringing of poverty and quickly rose to compete for some of Thailand’s greatest honors.

He competed at Lumpinee Boxing Stadium for the first time as a 14-year-old, winning three Fighter of the year awards as a teenager. He would then beat former Lumpinee Boxing Stadium champion Kulabdam Sor.Jor.Piek-U-Thai three times in a row, the third time for six million baht.

He then looked to expand his international exposure, fighting in China and eventually, ONE Championship.

For the ONE featherweight Muay Thai world champion, entering the ONE circle was about the pursuit of being respected worldwide instead of only in Thailand. Here’s an English translation of his goals fighting for ONE Championship:

“In Thailand, I could only face other Thais. Here in ONE, the whole world will know who I am. That’s the scale of the competition here.”

The feature documentary then traced PK.Saenchai's path through the ONE Championship ranks, overcoming a split decision loss to Sittichai and missing weight against Saemapetch Fairtex, which prompted him to move up to featherweight.

The feature concluded with the Muay Thai phenom’s world title-clinching performance last September against Petchmorakot, but his story has just begun in ONE Championship. His first defense comes against Russia’s Jamal Yusupov at ONE Fight Night 7 this Friday.

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Tawanchai believes that Jamal Yusupov “hardly has any weaknesses” ahead of first world title defense

The reigning ONE featherweight Muay Thai world champion realizes that he’s up against one of the toughest tests of his career this Friday.

Tawanchai PK.Saenchai has struggled to find many weaknesses in Jamal Yusupov’s game ahead of their co-main event fight at ONE Fight Night 7.

Speaking to ONE Championship about his opponent, PK.Saenchai said,

“[Yusupov’s] strength is heavy, strong punches. He hardly has any weaknesses. He’s one of the strongest fighters. You can’t underestimate him in any way.”

After signing with ONE Championship in 2019, Jamal Yusupov has passed every test thrown his way, including Yodsanklai, Samy Sana, and Jo Nattawut. He was even supposed to fight for the world title against Petchmorakot, but the fight fell through, resulting in the world champion facing Tawanchai instead.

It’s inevitable that a world title shot would be offered to Yusupov, and Tawanchai will have the honor of being the one to give it to him.

ONE Fight Night 7 goes down on February 24 from Bangkok’s Lumpinee Boxing Stadium. The event streams on Amazon Prime in US Prime time for North American subscribers.