Can Yodkhunpon be catagorized as a clinch fighter?

[Francis]

I'm always wondering about Yodkhunpon's unique elbow fighting style. In muay Thai I never seen anyone who fights like him. In some videos he's catagorized as a muay khao or clinch fighter. But to me he doesn't seem to be like the traditional clinch fighters in that he actually didn't clinch too much. So could anyone please help me catagorize Yodkhunpon's style into a type of fight in Thailand?

[Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu]

11 hours ago, Francis said:

So could anyone please help me catagorize Yodkhunpon's style into a type of fight in Thailand?

He did clinch, but he didn't lock, which is the Golden Age style of clinching. His latching hand is very sticky. I think if you see the clinch style of Langsuan, who does this to the extreme, you'll see the element of clinch I'm talking about, where you use grabs to redirect and attack, and not to immobilize. But, you are very right, clinch is not the primary part of his game. And you are also right that it is very likely nobody ever fought like him, before or since. He'd be categorized as a Muay Sok fighter (and Elbow Fighter), but know that these categories aren't real. They are just very loose descriptors. He was maybe generally a Muay Khao fighter (knee fighter who derns) who also used elbows to pressure, and open up his knees. Karuhat once told us he wouldn't be worried about Yodkhunpon's elbows, he'd worry about his knees. It should also be said, even though we in the west love him, his style is I think considered a very "low" style in Thailand, denigrated and without a ton of appreciation. Even to this day he is vastly underrated in Thailand. It is full of art and creativity, and really beauty. But many Thais can or could not see it because of biases about kinds of fighting, a style that elbows very heavily, and is relentless. You can hear Yodkhupon talk a little about Samson Isaan, and why he made his Top 5 list. This is somewhat the story of Yodkhupon as well. Samson's Muay was also not appreciated in his day:

 

[Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu]

I wouldn't label him a clinch fighter, although he definitely wants to get his opponents to clinch with him so he can land elbows from that range and have them be busy while he times them. But his full nickname is the "Elbow Hunter of 100 Stitches," and the "hunter" part to me is his style. He's a forward fighter, relentless even though not necessarily pressuring the way Samson did with his insane pace and forward movement. Yodkhunpon is, to me, a Muay Khao fighter with specialties of elbows.

[Francis]

18 hours ago, Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu said:

He did clinch, but he didn't lock, which is the Golden Age style of clinching. His latching hand is very sticky. I think if you see the clinch style of Langsuan, who does this to the extreme, you'll see the element of clinch I'm talking about, where you use grabs to redirect and attack, and not to immobilize. But, you are very right, clinch is not the primary part of his game. And you are also right that it is very likely nobody ever fought like him, before or since. He'd be categorized as a Muay Sok fighter (and Elbow Fighter), but know that these categories aren't real. They are just very loose descriptors. He was maybe generally a Muay Khao fighter (knee fighter who derns) who also used elbows to pressure, and open up his knees. Karuhat once told us he wouldn't be worried about Yodkhunpon's elbows, he'd worry about his knees. It should also be said, even though we in the west love him, his style is I think considered a very "low" style in Thailand, denigrated and without a ton of appreciation. Even to this day he is vastly underrated in Thailand. It is full of art and creativity, and really beauty. But many Thais can or could not see it because of biases about kinds of fighting, a style that elbows very heavily, and is relentless. You can hear Yodkhupon talk a little about Samson Isaan, and why he made his Top 5 list. This is somewhat the story of Yodkhupon as well. Samson's Muay was also not appreciated in his day:

 

 

Thanks Kevin, that answers a lot of my questions about Yodkhunpon's unique fighting style. I once saw a video showing Yodkhunpon fight a western kickboxer, and in that fight elbows weren't allowed. He then fought just like Dieselnoi, which is to just double lock the opponent's head and knees, like a classic muay Khao fighter. It's very interesting and rare to see him fight without elbows.

[Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu]

1 hour ago, Francis said:

I once saw a video showing Yodkhunpon fight a western kickboxer, and in that fight elbows weren't allowed. He then fought just like Dieselnoi, which is to just double lock the opponent's head and knees, like a classic muay Khao fighter.

Yes. It's not that he didn't know how to lock, but westerners like his opponent were clueless on how to break the basic double plumb, so it made perfect sense to just have at it. This is very easy to counter that neck collar in most cases in Thailand, he could not get away with that in his home country. On the other hand, everything his opponent was doing in that fight, if elbows were permitted, would have ended very badly for him.