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Muay Thai icon Saenchai added to GLORY 31 card
- Updated: June 3, 2016
Comparisons between fighters and other sporting greats can be a fraught move, as with UFC commentator Michael Goldberg’s infamous comparing of Travis Lutter’s jiu jitsu skills to basketball legend Michael Jordan.
Such comparisons are apt, though, when it comes to Saenchai. There is not a Muay Thai fan, pundit, fighter or trainer in the world who would, or could, attempt to say that he is overrated or that his reputation is undeserved.
Muay Thai is a niche sport in the west so it will undoubtedly be the case that a lot of MMA fans, and even some kickboxing fans, won’t know who Saenchai is. So a few more comparisons are appropriate in order to give some illustration of where his skill level and reputation lies in his particular discipline.
His speed and reflexes are simply incredible. Coupled with his computer-like sense of distance and timing, they have made him extremely difficult to hit. Here you can indeed compare him to Floyd Mayweather Jr, and comparisons with Muhammad Ali are not inappropriate either. Saenchai is one of those fighters who evades blow after blow in seemingly impossible fashion, then punishes the opponent with a counterattack.
Another of his key skills is his ability to completely misdirect the opponent. Misdirection is a huge advantage in any sport; NFL coaches obsess over it and soccer players like Lionel Messi are so good at it they make their opponents look like amateurs. Saenchai is on that same level, feinting to send the opponent one way then attacking in the space created, or faking a defensive error to draw an attack out and then counter-attacking heavily.
In the boxing world, fighters are lionized for moving up a few pounds in weight for a fight or two. Conor McGregor was recently on the point of being canonized by his fans for fighting Nate Diaz at welterweight. Consider then that Saenchai has spent almost his entire career giving up weight.
Against Thai opponents, trained from their infant years like him, he generally gives up two or three …
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