This Week In Muay Thai: Kohtao & Chalamdam Go To War

I break down the slobberknocker between Kohtao and Chalamdam at Channel 7, plus impressive performances from Khunsuknoi and PetchThailand.

Kohtao vs Chalamdam Nayokathasala

Full fight here at 1:33:00

Kohtao Petchsomnuek recently established himself as one of the top fighters at 118lbs with a knockout over Detphet in May. Chalamdam Nayokathasala was one of the highest profile and up comers in Muay Thai last year, but he’s struggled once he started consistently fighting elite competition, snapping a 13 fight win streak in late 2023 and going 1-4 in his last five.

Chalamdam is a crafty kicker, with an active teep and slick marching combinations off both legs. Kohtao is a heavy-handed Muay Mat, so Chalamdam’s teep came in handy enforcing his preferred range and keeping Kohtao on the outside, where he couldn’t apply his power.

During the first half of the fight, Chalamdam looked dominant, bouncing Kohtao back with his teep whenever he approached and maintaining the perfect distance to land his rear kick at will.

When Chalamdam has space to work, he’s a treat to watch. He used the threat of the teep brilliantly, constantly mixing up hard teeps to back Kohtao off with feints and footwork. Particularly effective was his pairing of the teep with his jab:

Teeps and jabs go together so well because they serve very similar functions, but at different ranges. They flow into and out of one another easily, as the raised leg planting back down also serves to power the jab, and the weight rocking to the rear foot with a flick of the lead hand facilitates the teep. As the opponent pushes past teeping range, they walk themselves right onto the point of the jab, and backing away from the jab allows you to teep with impunity. Chalamdam is also great about jabbing off his feinted teeps, briefly lifting the leg to halt his opponent’s advance and stomp it back down as he thrusts out the jab.

He also used the dual threat of his teep and jab to pivot off and break the line of Kohtao’s attack:

Once the bouncing lead leg or flicking lead hand had done it’s job and frozen Kohtao in place for a moment, or draw him into picking up his own leg to check, Chalamdam would pivot outside of his lead foot. The outside angle gave him space to circle back into the center of the ropes or get in a quick combination as Kohtao turned to face him.

Since Chalamdam’s piercing teep kept Kohtao from walking him down and creating pocket exchanges, he was left rushing in from kicking range. With the large distance between them, Chalamdam rarely had a problem making the first punch miss, and his counter elbows caught Kohtao as he fell forward.

The concept here is the same as the inside angle straight counter we see all the time from southpaws. Chalamdam pulls his head back and avoids the long left, then pivots inside Kohtao’s stance to face him as he stumbles forward off balance.

While Chalamdam cruised through the opening rounds of the fight, the momentum swung on a dime late in the third round. Kohtao started crowding Chalamdam more urgently, intent on dragging him into a brawl. At one point he succesfully backed Chalamdam into the corner and ate a clean body kick to step into his own 1-2. Chalamdam avoided both punches, but the pressure and threat of both the punches and Kohtao occupying space right in front of him clearly got to him, as he turned his back and ran across the perimeter of the ring to regain distance.

Seeing Chalamdam’s rushed reaction emboldened Kohtao, who picked up the pace and never let off for the rest of the fight. It signalled a crack in Chalamdam’s heretofore pristine ruup and once he saw it, Kohtao knew he could drag it out of him again.

In Muay Thai, the femeu’s job is to act unbothered, performing the inability of their opponent to affect them through their composure and relaxed body language, while the job of the aggressor is to shatter that illusion and reveal the mental and physical toll their presence is taking on the femeu. Once Kohtao saw an opening, he knew Chalamdam’s composure was nearing a breaking point. He continued crowding him, staying inside teeping range and forcing him to rely more on his rear kick, which Kohtao could eat to return punching flurries that kept breaking Chalamdam’s balance.

The whole dymanic of the fight changed in the fourth round, as Chalamdam realized that his femeu illusion had been broken, and instead went on the offensive:

Chalamdam needed to change the story of the fight from one of him slowly being broken down and overcome to him adjusting and meeting Kohtao’s fire with his own superior fire. He switched to southpaw and moved forward, looking to time knees and elbows as Kohtao stepped into his heavy punches.

While Chalamdam was able to score early with his aggression, Kohtao responded and the fight became a grueling battle of cardio, durability, and will. Kohtao was the one able to dig deeper, hit harder, and maintain his posture in exchanges as Chalamdam gradually ran out of juice.

One of the most important tactical keys for Kohtao late in the fight was his framing. The relentless pressure and extended flurries he was putting on Chalamdam only work so long as you have space to punch. Chalamdam’s ability to keep him outside punching range was already broken, but constantly opening the elbows to toss out hooks leaves open the chance for opponents to get inside punching range and tie up. But Kohtao anticipated the clinch entries and always made sure to get a hunk of bone in between him and Chalamdam, forcing him to stay at punching distance.

Laying a forearm across the face not only halts an opponent’s clinch entry, but it also blinds them to the next strike. Kohtao used his framed brilliantly to launch elbows, then resumed his punch flurries when Chalamdam stumbled back. When Chalamdam got a brief underhook, Kohtao would slide his arm back to a collar tie and pitch elbows. At one point Chalamdam clung desperately onto the head and Kohtao flung him to the mat.

Kohtao’s control of the clinch exchanges is a key aspect of effective swarming. The goal of a swarmer is to overwhelm, to break their opponent’s ability to process information and absorb more punishment by brute force and volume. But that necessitates getting in close and exposing yourself to some kind of grappling. The most effective swarmers across all combat sports - from Chamuakphet to Henry Armstrong to Max Holloway - all have the ability to determine when clinch exchanges do or don’t occur, their attack flowing into and out of the clinch seemlessly while preventing their victim from finding a stalling hold.

Kohtao is now on a seven fight win streak including four stoppage wins. The champion at 122lbs is currently Phetsaman Sor.Samangarment, whose also on a seven fight win streak that established him as one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in Muay Thai. I’m not sure how the promotional side of things works out, but I’d love to see Kohtao against Phetsaman or Khunsuknoi next.

Khunsuknoi vs Boonchu

Khunsuknoi Boomdeksian is the brother Rajadamnern 118lbs champion and pound-for-pound talent, Khunsuklek. But Khunsuknoi is also an elite fighter in his own right. He came into this fight on a four fight win streak. Boonchu Sor.Boonmerit was 4-2 for the year coming into this fight, with one loss coming against Khunsuknoi last month, and the other other ONE rules.

Khunsuknoi spent the first couple rounds feinting around at long range and setting up his tricky kicks. He would draw out teeps from Boonchu and counter with his lead leg, and he established a lead leg teep that he would use to hide his entries, hopping in behind the raised leg to land his rear kick, or sweep Boonchu’s plant leg as he tried to check the kick.

In the third round, Boonchu started pushing forward for the clinch and we were treated to some classic Khunsuk(noi/lek) femeu magic. As Boonchu advanced, Khunsuknoi would rapidly give ground backwards, taking a lot of distance to ensure he had the right range to land his kicks. He mirrored Boonchu’s marching, switching his feet and backstepping between stances while moving backwards.

The rapid switches and backsteps meant that Boonchu was never quite sure which leg was in position to kick him or which side would be open for his own kicks. When he led with a raised leg to proactively block kicks, Khunsuknoi would start sneaking little sweeps and leg kicks to the plant leg underneath, breaking his balance. Since Khunsuknoi was pretty much running backwards, Boonchu started ramping up the speed of his advance in attempt to smother the kicks, but Khunsuknoi would occasionally plant his feet and toss out a hard punch or elbow, leaving Boonchu no time to run onto his face-first.

Rapid linear retreat tends to be an ineffective strategy in most sports because you quickly end up running yourself onto whatever is behind you, be it a cage, ropes, or the elevated lip of the YAMMA pit. But Khunsuknoi was confident that once it got to the ropes, he could effectively stall the clinch out and re-take the center of the ring once the ref separated them. When Boonchu got a hold of him, he’d lay his shin across the hips to block knees and hold onto the upper body, or if he couldn’t get a controlling grip he’d look to frame off to elbow or push away.

This sort of comfort playing off the ropes is something you see a lot in Muay Thai, due both to its “dominance in retreat” aesthetic, as well as the nature of the position in a sport that privileges knees and kicks to the body in scoring. The vulnerabilities of getting stuck on the ropes lie mainly in the threat of punches, where with kicks, the retreating fighter can adopt a narrow stance where he can easily lift up either leg to defend, and get ready to elbow or clinch if his opponent steps in with punches. That stylistic quirk is why it’s fairly common for Thais crossing over to kickboxing without much experience to back themselves up to the ropes and quickly get blasted out to the body, as the removal of elbows and clinching greatly increases the danger of the position by removing the options through which they typically exploit it.

Khunsuknoi ended up cruising to victory with his superior distance offense, preventing Boonchu from scoring in the clinch to make up for it. Khunsuknoi was supposed to fight top ten 118lber, Yodsila Chor.Hapayak, but he pulled out and Boonchu filled in on short notice. We’ll likely see Khunsuknoi get a well-deserved step up in his next fight.

Boonlong vs Petchthailand

Boonlong Petchyindee is one of the top fighters at 122lbs, but he’s been hit or miss this year, going 2-1-1. PetchThailand was 2-3 on the year coming into this fight, with a loss to Boonlong in February.

The dynamic of the matchup was clear from the beginning, as Boonlong is one of the pound-for-pound hardest kickers in the world, while PetchThailand does most of his work in the clinch. PetchThailand has been improving his kicking game recently however, picking up a fourth round finish via kicks to the arm in July.

Boonlong is the sort of kicker who can stop or seriously compromise opponents if they give him too much space in the slow early rounds. PetchThailand made good use of them however, crowding Boonlong methodically, steadily encroaching on his space and taking away his distance to hip into his heavy kicks.

PetchThailand’s cautious pressure had to thread the needle perfectly between giving Boonlong too much space and charging too aggressively and opening himself up, but he played it well and it allowed him to close in while keeping his stance balanced to block the kicks.

PetchThailand advanced behind light kicks, herding Boonlong with them in both directions, and splicing the quick kicks in between Boonlong’s more committed kicks to throw off his timing. Every time Boonlong sat down on a heavy kick, PetchThailand would respond with a quick one of his own to keep Boonlong occupied while he continued to chew up space. Moving into the power kick ends up being safer than retreating and giving it room to breathe, as long as one can maximize their opportunities once on the inside.

I particularly liked PetchThailand’s use of a consistent teep on the front foot. The lead leg teep is not only a great tool for pressure fighters to knock opponents back to the ropes, but it directly attack’s Boonlong’s main weapon. It’s difficult to sit down on a hard rear kick when one expects a teep shooting into his lead hip. When timed as the rear kick comes out it can fling the kicker off balance, and advancing behind a consistent teep will jam up the center line and make them think twice about throwing it.

Boonlong started doubling and tripling up on his rear kick in the later rounds to get past PetchThailand’s check. While he found some success kicking the body as PetchThailand’s checking leg planted back down, PetchThailand also did a good job using Boonlong’s kicks as an opportunity to push him back and enter the clinch.

PetchThailand would often enter the clinch by stepping outside Boonlong’s stance and framing his face away from outside his shoulder. He didn’t get a lot of clean work in from this position, but it allowed him to break Boonlong’s posture and wear him out, paying dividends as Boonlong tired later in the fight.

In the fourth round, Boonlong upped his lateral movement and looked to turn and sweep in the clinch, trying to find space to score with his rear kick. He was able to narrow the fight a bit, but PetchThailand stayed on him with pressure and prevented him from scoring enough to swing the momentum, resulting in a PetchThailand decision win.

Pek vs Yodbuangam

Full fight here at 1:08:04

Pek PTT Thongtavi is an up and coming 19 year old who’s been on a roll since moving up to 112lbs late last year, winning six out of seven fights at the weight. Yodbuangam LuckyBantueang was a strong prospect at 112lbs a couple years ago, drawing with Khunsuknoi and beating Kohtao, but he’s struggled recently, losing both of his fights in this year.

This fight took place mostly in the clinch, with both fighters actively transitioning and the ref letting them work. Channel 7 tends to be a lot more lenient in their treatment of the clinch than other promotions, and the fights benefit from it. You can see in this fight how letting fighters work dissudes stalling, as Yodbuangam would often achieve a tight headlock or double underhooks that many refs would have broken up, but a second or two later Pek would find create a bit of space and slip a forearm in, getting him back into hitting position.

Pek ended up winning a competitive decision and the main difference maker was Pek’s superior clinch positioning. He did a much better job using his forearms to frame and create distance, elbowing off inside bicep control and limp-arming into collar ties when Yodbuangam tried to tie him up. Pek was solid in transition as well, timing his strikes as Yodbuangam looked to jockey for position, and making better use of his head as a lever.

Yodbuangam seemed most comfortable clinching at mid-range, using extended hands to handfight and look for elbows on entry. But Pek would quickly close past his ideal distance and Yodbuangam’s positioning would fall apart.

The problem with Yodbuangam’s approach is that he would default to locking around the head without having his own head in strong position. If you’re controlling inside the opponent’s shoulders, either with an inside tie on the bicep or a collar tie, your forearm acts as a natural frame, giving you space to move and strike. The opponent can’t get around the frame by just pushing forward, and if they push too hard, they’re giving you a chance to elbow, turn, or sweep.

But when locking around the head with the elbow deep, rather than planted in the collarbone, there’s nothing on the inside of the opponent’s shoulder preventing them from pushing forward and sucking out all the space. Instead, your own head needs to fill that role, wedging in the opponent’s jaw to force them upright and give you space to set your hips back and knee. Yodbuangam would enter the clinch with his posture bolt upright and attempt a limp grab around the head, then Pek would either find his a frame and start working, or Yodbuangam would have to try to adjust the position to land his own strikes and end up giving Pek openings.

For an example of how to use the head well when going for the sort of locks Yodbuangam was looking for, have a look at this Superlek fight from early in his career:

Superlek spends a lot of time in the clinch here, looking for a lock with both elbows outside of his opponent’s shoulder line, though he’ll occasionally slide an elbow back to frame inside the shoulder if he’s starting to lose the lock. As soon as he gets both hands inside upon entering the clinch, his head dips down and he points his forehead right at his man’s chin. As he locks his hands and tightens, the head helps pinch the lock tight, while giving him enough space. If he can’t get the head position perfect at first, he’ll squeeze the lock while jockeying for better position, posting his head on the shoulder until he can slide it over to the jaw, or using his own shoulder to force the opponent’s head up and slide his own underneath. He uses the pulling force of the tight lock and the space his head creates to crunch his opponent forward onto knees that break his posture.

Ronachai Tor.Ramintra vs Samandar Khasanov

Ronachai Tor.Ramintra has been one of the best fighters in Muay Thai over the past several years. He won the Sports Authority Fighter of the Year award in 2022, and in my opinion he should’ve won Fighter of the Year in 2020 as well instead of Kongklai AnnyMuayThai. He’s fought less regularly lately, however. Last year he fought three times, winning twice and losing to Eisaku Ogasawara. This year he’s in the Rajadamnern World Series Featherweight tournament, but his competition so far hasn’t been up to his usual standard, with wins over Milad Tavakoli, Ruach Gordon, and Samingdaeng Wor.Jakrawut.

Ronachai’s opponent this time was Samandar Khasanov, an 18 year old Uzbek who I wasn’t able to find much information on. Ronachai lazily picked him apart for the first two rounds, intercepting Khasanov’s entries with his left kick and threatening elbows when he tried to make it ugly on the inside.

Khasanov played a bouncy in and out game, but wasn’t able to land anything clean enough to establish a threat and force Ronachai to worry about his entries. Ronachai was content to sit back and time him coming forward, and Khasanov had no defense to the left kick, just taking it on his arms whenever Ronachai threw it. Without being able to neutralize the kicks, his only chance at a win was to drop or finish Ronachai and it quickly became clear he wasn’t going to do that.

After winning the first two rounds, Ronachai decided he wanted to put Khasanov away and stormed forward smashing the body.

Khasanov would try to teep him away in panic, but Ronachai caught them and returned a body straight to set up a big lead hook upstairs. Within 20 seconds he’d dropped Khasanov and he kept chasing him around, smacking him with some real mean body punches until Khasanov wilted.

Ronachai, View, and Chaila are all in the final four of RWS’ Featherweight tournament, so we’ll soon get to see Ronachai take on pound-for-pound talent once again.

Nongbew vs Shimon Yoshinari

Shimon Yoshinari is the younger brother of Japan’s biggest Muay Thai star, Nadaka Yoshinari. Nongbew Jitmuangnon was 3-1 for the year coming into this fight, while Shimon is 10-1 in his last 11.

Nongbew took a decisive lead early, switching to southpaw in the third round and repeatedly running Shimon into his open side kick. Shimon was lunging in with hooks to the body, but it got him in trouble a few times as Nongbew countered with a few clean head kicks as he reached down.

In the fourth round, Shimon swung the momentum to his side, hurting Nongbew with several big punches and keeping him on the defensive for most of the round, before continuing to apply pressure in the fifth. He emerged with a hard fought win, but showed some defensive vulnerabilities that could trouble him against top fighters if he isn’t able to reliably rock them with his hands.

Mungkonphet SaimoonSnooker vs Kongburapa TipThamai

Mungkonphet SaimoonSnooker was 3-4 for the year coming into this fight, while Kongburapa TipThamai returned to Muay Thai earlier this month after a few years off with a knockout win.

This fight ended quickly, as Mungkonphet finished Kongburapa with an elbow in the third round. Mungkonphet used his reach to pick away with kicks on the outside early, as Kongburapa chased with punches and leg kicks. In the third round, Mungkonphet started sitting down on punches to catch Kongburapa as he kicked, dropping him with a left hand and closing out the fight with a big elbow.

You may also enjoy Superlek vs Rodtang Breakdown:

And Jomwo Chernyim: Lead Leg Kicking & the Secrets of a Narrow Stance: