Buakaw Banchamek and Saenchai PKSaenchaigym will finally face each other inside the ring. They will meet in a bare knuckle Muay Thai fight on March 18th.

Buakaw broke the news on his official Facebook page and made it clear that it would be a real fight:

Smaller man

The fight is set for 68.5kgs (151lbs) which is the weight that Buakaw has been fighting at for the past 20 years. Saenchai has fought at this weight in the past but will be significantly smaller than the two time K-1 Max winner.

Buakaw and Saenchai are the biggest names in Muay Thai and this fight has been the subject of speculation for decades. It was always felt that the size difference was insurmountable while both men used to be signed to rival promoters.

But these days Buakaw is a free agent while Saenchai is very much his own man. There is no venue confirmed for the fight with the promotion yet to finalize a location.

 

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More details

Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship promoter David Feldman gave some more details,

“We’re working on solidifying the site and targeting a location in the Middle East which we will announce shortly.”

This will be Buakaw’s second BKFC fight and Feldman is excited to settle a debate that has raged for years about who would win in a fight between the two Muay Thai veterans,

“Once we started working with Buakaw and Saenchai earlier this year, it became very apparent how big of an international, game-changing event this would be. They’ve both had legendary careers and competed in many of the most exciting Muay Thai fights in history. Combat sports fans have always had very strong opinions about who would win, now they’re going to take the gloves off and finally settle their score.”

Buakaw and Saenchai are both friends and have frequently been pictured playing football together. The bout is being billed as a ‘special rules bare knuckle Muay Thai fight’ and it appears they are willing to put the friendship aside in return for what will presumably be a big pay day.