Seksan: The Man Who Pressures Everyone

BANGKOK, THAILAND - 2023/09/22: Saeksan Or. Kwanmuang (L) of Thailand and Amir Naseri of Iranian-Malaysian seen in action during the ONE Friday Fights 34 at Lumpinee Boxing Stadium. (Photo by Amphol Thongmueangluang/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

One Fight Night 16: Haggerty vs. Andrade was a big event, and its main event featured a superfight between the promotion’s MMA and Muay Thai bantamweight champions for the vacant kickboxing belt of the same weight class. But I’m not here to talk about that fight, as good and interesting as it was. I’m here to highlight a Muay Thai bout that took place on the undercard between Seksan and Karim Bennoui.

The Man Who Yields To No One

Saeksan Or. Kwanmuang, or as he has become known lately by the romanization ONE has been giving him, just Seksan, is a thai nak muay. The now 34-year-old had a storied career on the stadium circuit; his aggressive style not only made him a fan favorite from early on but also took him very far. His popularity can be reflected in his multiple Rajadmnern Stadium Fights of the Year (most famously his 2019 bout with current ONE flyweight champion and bonafide star Rodtang), and the biggest proof of his skill can be seen in his two title wins from the same prestigious stadium, one of the biggest accomplishments a Thai boxer can obtain.

Earlier this year, Seksan began fighting for ONE Championship, under the now-infamous ONE Muay Thai rules. Said ruleset is not only infamous for its use of 4-ounce muay thai gloves but also for the constant call for action by the referees, the limited clinching time allowed, and the scoring that heavily favors aggression and damage over superior displays of technique. Unlike a lot of his fellow countrymen, Seksan already had an aggressive pressuring style that translated well to the promotion’s meta game (much like his former foe Rodtang). After a busy 2023 that saw him fight and win six times under the ONE Friday Fights banner, Seksan finally got the call to a bigger ONE Fight Night event, which also coincided with what would be his 200th professional win if he were to emerge victorious. Facing him would be Algerian veteran kickboxer Karim Bennoui.

The Fight

It was apparent from the oppening belt that Seksan was looking to use feints and his stiff jab to put Karim on the backfoot and push him to the edges of the ring.

Pressure either freezes opponents, or forces them to make an action: either move or attack. Add the reactions a stiff jab adds to the equation and openings will start showing.

Karim still trying to decide how to approach the pressure and how to deal with the jab. Seksan lands one of his trademark closed side body kicks.

Bennoui realized he wasn’t going to get any resets for free so he started throwing back, hoping to regain some ground and get the fight to open space again

Bennoui tries his luck with the cross counter and his own jab. Seksan defends and keeps the pressure on, getting an entry for his first elbow.

To pressure well, a fighter needs to have at least decent defense, as they’re going to be in the line of fire a lot more often than those who actively try to avoid exchanges. Even fighters who are considered no defense brutes by many, like MMA’s Justin Gaethje, are surprisingly hard to hit consistently clean, and that’s what allows them to keep pushing forwards time and time again. Seksan’s style has translated well to small gloves because he’s not really into putting on the high guard and leaving it at that. He has active hands that are looking to parry or cover his chin; he moves his head slightly off centerline even when leaning back; and most importantly, he’s particularly good at turning his hips to cover behind his shoulders when attacked from his left side. But he also has a little trick to help him: initiative. As the fighter moving forward and dictating the exchanges, Seksan has an easier time predicting and seeing the strikes of his opponents coming, and unless he’s tricked or dissuaded with convincing feints, he will grip the initiative of movement and rhythm and will not let it go.

Bennoui is not a bad fighter, and he had ideas to deal with the pressure. His own jabs, especially to the body, and trying to time the cross counter over Seksan’s jab were good looks. But he was having a hard time on the execution side, as he was not convincing Seksan to stop moving forwards for any considerable amount of time and spent most of the time with his back near the ropes looking for answers.

Once Seksan felt the dynamic of the fight was established and he got a feel for the timing and tools Bennoui was going to use, he started going to work with bigger, more damaging options.

His first read was to go for damage with his trusty old elbows. With Karim already respecting the jab, Seksan started to use frames to enter range.

Seksan framing on the head of Karim to set up a variety of elbows, both from the framing hand and the free one. In the last clip of this video he also uses the frames to land a right hook to the body and a leaping knee.

He also tested the waters with jabs into leaping elbows and naked chopping elbows at range

Assisting the pressure throughout the fight you could also see many instances of Seksan heading Bennoui to circle to his left, and that’s were the already mentioned rear kick to the body played a big role.

The closed side body kick is not very common in MMA, but it is pretty popular in muay thai. Seksan would often close the exit to Bennoui’s right side, forcing him to either exchange or circle to his left. The body kick against a circling opponent is a great tool not only because it attacks a big target, but also because it stops the foe on its track and can make it easier to force them into exchanges, as you can see in the last clips of this video.

At first, Karim was very mobile, and tried to get more and more aggressive in open space to deal with Seksan’s pressure, so the tie ups were somewhat limited. But as both fighters settled and fatigue started to show, Seksan started looking for more and longer clinches, and it would be there where he would take over in the second half of the fight.

Instead of giving up the pressure, Seksan started spending more time in close quarters as the fight went on. Grabbing arm ties and collar ties on the counter, but also turning frames and leaping entries into any kind of wrist, upper arm or head control. Bennoui who was kept reacting the whole fight was usually trying to disengage or looking to stall waiting for a referee separation.

It was during this clinches that Seksan ended up changing the focus of the bulk of his significant volume into knees, as the high guard and urgency to disengage of Karim, exposed his body to big punishing knees.

With Karim already conditioned to shell-up expecting elbows on top, or looking to disengage during any kind of prolonged clinch situation, Seksan started going heavy to the body with knees. Seksan showed versatility with his use of the tool, as he was finding knees from frames, leaping into space when he forced Bennoui to circle, pushed him into the ropes to meet him with flying knees on the bounce, and took opportunity of any single collar tie or headlock to land them. The knees and constant tie ups were draining on Karim who resorted to expose his back and stall clinches waiting for the refs in the last few exchanges of the fight.

Final Thoughts

Where does Seksan go from here? It's hard to know, as I previously mentioned, that this was his victory number 200, and he has been fighting for 18 years, despite only being 34 years old. It is hard to know where the prime a of a Thai boxer lands, but at the same time, he’s one of the local fighters lucky enough to have a style that blends well with the ruleset of ONE. Either you like ONE Championship approach to muay thai or you don’t, I think we can all agree that it's nice to see great fighters like Seksan getting to fight in bigger stages, showcasing their skills, and hopefully getting a bigger paycheck than they would fighting in the local scene. I think real Muay Thai should be preserved, but I also wish success to fighters who try their hand crossing over to this new modality, especially if it means bigger opportunities. Now we just wait for the next one.

Feño Sky