"Tawanchai P.K.Saenchai hops into it!" - The ONE 158 main event fighter really commits to his elbows

Tawanchai P.K.Saenchai hops back into the ONE circle at ONE 158 on June 3. Ahead of the highly anticipated bout, the ONE Championship Twitter account posted a video reminding the world of Tawanchai's devastating elbow strikes, with the caption reading:

"Tawanchai hops into it!"

Check out the tweet below:

Winning two out of his first three bouts in the ONE circle, Tawanchai will face ONE Championship debutant Niclas Larsen. From 2013 to 2017, Larsen completed under the Glory kickboxing promotion, going 3-3 during his time there.

Don't let the record fool you. Larsen is a former WBC Muay Thai World Champion, confirming that he can hold his own in the striking game.

Stepping into the ONE 158 main event, Tawanchai P.K. Saenchai realizes that this fight is an opportunity to get one step closer to ONE Championship gold. While speaking to ONE, Tawanchai said:

“In Muay Thai, I want to face Petchmorakot. That’s my goal. And after winning the belt in Muay Thai, I want to fight for the [Featherweight] kickboxing belt.”

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Despite success at bantamweight, a move to featherweight made sense for Tawanchai P.K.Saenchai

After earning an impressive first-round knockout against Saemapetch Fairtex at ONE Championship: Heavy Hitters, it seemed like Tawanchai P.K.Saenchai was well on his way to bantamweight contender status.

Instead, the P.K. Saenchai Muay Thai gym standout will make a move to the featherweight division against Niclas Larsen at ONE 158. Despite his recent success, Tawanchai believes that the move featherweight will be beneficial. He elaborated on this while speaking directly to ONE Championship:

“I had hard time losing weight to stay in bantamweight. I think I’ll be more natural in featherweight. I had to control my weight. I had to eat less in order not to gain weight. So, my energy drops, and I can’t perform weight training to improve natural muscle mass effectively. I think I’ll be more agile and my weapons will be even heavier."

There have been plenty of examples of fighters who have opted to move up a weight class rather than risk depleting themselves during increasingly difficult weight cuts.

Robert Whittaker is a notable example of this. The former UFC champion competed at 170 pounds, but ultimately found his way to the top of the mountain in the 185 pound division. Tawanchai could very well find that same level of success with a move up to featherweight.