By:  | July 28, 2023 9:55 am

Tawanchai PKSaenchaigym will be putting his featherweight Muay Thai title on the line at ONE Fight Night 15. He faces fellow Thai Superbon Banchamek on October 7th.

The fight will almost certainly take place at Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok although no venue is confirmed. Tawanchai has another bout booked there, he faces Davit Kiria in a kickboxing contest next Saturday.

But after that Tawanchai will be back in Muay Thai action making the second defence of the title he won last year:

Switching codes

His opponent had been in the process of establishing himself as the best kickboxer in the world at the weight. Superbon went on an incredible run that saw him beat Sittichai Sitsongpeenong, Giorgio Petrosyan and Marat Grigorian.

He lost his title and his momentum after getting knocked out by Chingiz Allazov at ONE Fight Night 6 earlier this year. Superbon bounced back to stop Tayfun Ozcan in the second round so it is something of a surprise to see the 32 year old switching codes.

With Allazov defending his belt against Marat Grigorian at ONE Fight Night 12 next week perhaps he became impatient. Regardless of the reasons Superbon will be looking to win a Muay Thai title for the first time since 2018.

Winning streak

While Superbon has been focused on kickboxing for the past seven years Tawanchai is one of the top pound for pound Muay Thai fighters in the world. He has beaten some of the biggest names in the division and been on a particularly impressive run of his own with ONE Championship.

Tawanchai’s winning streak currently stands at four and he has finished three of those fights within the distance. At ONE 161 he beat Petchmorrakot Petchyindeegym by decision to win the featherweight Muay Thai title.

Tawanchai followed that up with a knockout win over Jamal Yusupov at ONE Fight Night 7 in February. He will be hoping to come through next week’s kickboxing bout unscathed although a two month turnaround isn’t particularly fast by Thai standards.

Two titles

Assuming Tawanchai wins his kickboxing bout both men will be in contention for the featherweight title in that discipline. So the first fight between them is unlikely to be the last as they could both be in the hunt for two titles.

There is no clear candidate to face the winner of next week’s fight between Allazov and Grigorian. Sittichai is coming off back to back wins and could be a contender, he has already been in with both Tawanchai and Superbon.

These three Thai fighters can all switch seamlessly between the two sports. We could see more clashes between them in the future but Tawanchai and Superbon will be meeting for the first time at ONE Fight Night 15.