I’d already seen this video a few times (you can’t watch it only once, it’s just so incredibly cool, you can see it above), but watching it with him was just awesome. He kind of makes a big “C” out of his torso and the knees just come up through the hollow part, rather than being a plank that see-saws in order to get the knees driving forward. We shot more than an hour of my training at Sangtiennoi’s gym about 40 minutes north of Bangkok, just... Lots to get caught up on! Once Dieselnoi started finding his clinch consistently, the fight snowballed out of control for Samart. You have to keep in mind, the form you train is something that unlocks dynamics, but you do not necessarily knee exactly like this in fights. In the fight video above you can see that Dieselnoi’s attacks are almost entirely submarine, from the lower half of his body. Firstly, he actually stopped and thought about it. These things can be used by anyone, regardless of height or build. Samart was forced to turn and square up to realign himself, which gave Dieselnoi an opportunity to lead him into knees. This exceptional fighter, measuring near a meter ninety, for a 62 kg weight, destroyed all his opponents thanks to his fabulous technical of knocks of … Despite his reputation as an aggressive pressure fighter, Dieselnoi showed some moments of finesse on the outside as well. Fighting and beating many champions in his career, he held his belt for six years, before retiring and opening a restaurant. Well-renowned for his skills, Nai Khanom Tom was the choice amongst the Thai prisoners, and one by one he dispatched of 10 fighters from Burma, causing the Burmese king to remark on the venom of the champion before giving him his freedom. Samart would often initiate clinches on his own terms, securing inside position before Dieselnoi could get his grips. But he couldn’t help himself. After winning the Lumpinee title five times, he went on to study in the US and coach Muay Thai in Paris, before settling as a judge, trainer and referee back in Thailand. The more Samart attempted to plant his feet and score in exchanges, though, the easier it became for Dieselnoi to grab hold of him. The form instead guides the power you use in fights. I then moved to Thailand to train and fight full time in April of 2012, devoting myself to fighting 100 Thai fights, as well as blogging full time. You can see in the GIF above how this all plays out, but one of the more telling signs of mastery is balance. You can see the form showing through. If opponents back up, he simply shifts forward and fills the space. Arguably the best pound-for-pound fighter in the sports history, his willingness to move up weight classes to find worthy opponents deserves a lot of merit, often fighting opponents as much as 15 pounds heavier. A struggle between chaotic fury and elegant grace: the Muay Khao seeks to close distance and drive a high pace, while the Femeu tries to slow the fight down and dazzle with finesse. When a fighter who prefers to strike on the outside fights an opponent looking to close distance into the clinch, it’s vitally important for the distance operator to control the clinch entries. Dieselnoi is incredible. Incredibly, he can also time it as an intercepting counter, slapping on the lever as his opponent steps in to break their rhythm and set up his own offense. As such, my shin and foot touched less. Despite his Muay Thai heroics happening over 250 years ago, there’s little doubt that Nai Khanom Tom could have more than handled himself in any era of the sport. He knew that merely avoiding Dieselnoi’s offense wasn’t a viable path to victory and picked up the urgency after the first round. He would swat Samart’s hand down after taking the shot on his guard, allowing him to more effectively counter or transition into the clinch. A rhythmic, balletic lilt was present in his attacks even as he swarmed Samart and smothered him with piercing volume. There is an internal twist, and a vertical movement that becomes hidden against the body of an opponent, but they are foundations of his power. This not only allowed him to close distance and push Samart back off his own kicks, but the high knee acts as a counter to the kick as well. A run-in with the police for selling drugs in 2008 might have marred his reputation, but since then he’s been working for various gyms as a trainer, imparting his wide-ranging skills and knowledge onto the next generation. What Dieselnoi also had, besides height, was incredible drive and energy, and the kneeing he teaches holds internal mechanics which generate a great deal of power – he’s got good gas mileage from his technique. He would lift his rear leg high and shift forward into the opposite stance. His constant shifting helps him rapidly close distance into the clinch, and gives him a dual threat with the knees. This fight is the most thorough, elucidating piece of film we have on Dieselnoi. Dieselnoi combines every tactic I’ve discussed so far, making his entire game work together to create a flurry of knees and pressure. He’ll also use the frames after stepping in with a knee or kick to disrupt his opponent’s balance as they throw a counter. But as someone who is smaller than most of my opponents, and certainly shorter, I have to say that the beauty and power of this knee technique has little to do with height. Scoring is weighted toward the final three rounds, providing the fighters a grace period to establish a rhythm and allow gamblers to place their bets. And Dieselnoi is like this, but with the hunger and excitement of a man half, or even a quarter of, his age (he is 54 now). The shift into southpaw would often take him out of the overhand’s trajectory, but even if it didn’t, his chin was covered by the shoulder and he was free to counter with a knee or clinch entry. Dieselnoi himself showed me photos of a big mafia boss, covered in blood after an assassination attempt, the man who owned his contract when he was a fighter. I know I have. It’s the extended arm of a basic long guard or “4 block”, but he makes a hook out of his hand inside the glove and uses that either on the forehead (picture the older brother keeping his younger brother at arm’s length while the kid tries to swing at him) or, something that is unique and was quite horrid to experience, he puts in on the throat and kind of chokes you – hence the Vader reference. I think that the principles of knee drive that Dieselnoi is teaching is just this sort of thing. You essentially confuse the opponent with being too far away and then getting destroyed up close. Dieselnoi is incredible. When Samart tries to hook around the guard after landing a straight on the forearm, he simply shoulder rolls. The biggest difference between the widely common knees and the Dieselnoi and, to some extent, Yodkhunpon knees is the lean back.