What happens when you spar with the best pound for pound Muay Thai striker in the world?
Saenchai PKSaenchaimuaythaigym is known as one of the greatest Muay Thai fighters of all time. His incredible leg dexterity and creativity is showcased in nearly every fight. The flashy but effective use of bicycle kicks, question mark kicks, and cartwheel kicks are just a small part of his repertoire from 28 years of active competition.
Muay Thai is a brutal sport, and Saenchai’s career longetivity is due to the way he trains. Saenchai is very technical during practice, he uses less than 50% of his power to reduce the chance of injuries to himself and his training partners. But even at only 50% power, one can imagine that there is always a chance of getting hurt when sparring against a man of his talent.
At a seminar in 2011, Saenchai was having a friendly sparring session with one of his partners. After catching his partner’s kick, he decided to throw a kick of his own that rendered the man unconscious. View the video below:
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Having accomplished nearly every feat in Muay Thai, Saenchai is now interested in fighting Mixed Martial Arts. He is scheduled to visit Tristar Gym to train with head coach Firas Zahabi and former UFC Welterweight Champ Georges St. Pierre. The Muay Thai master will share his knowledge with the team at Tristar and learn more about the other aspects of MMA. It is not clear whether his visit will be a short or long-term stay.
There is no other fighter in MMA, in any weight class, that can match Saenchai’s elite level of striking. It will be interesting to see how he can develop the rest of his game for MMA at the age of 36. He has shown the ability in the past to make world champions look down right silly in both competition and sparring. Take for instance, Saenchai practicing technique and sparring with a 10x world champion, John Wayne Parr, and making him look like an amateur.
