Yothin FA Group has been Rajadamnern stadium’s long-reigning featherweight champion. He is called The King of Knees but in recent years he has done far more effective work with his elbows and his simple but effective kicking game. We examined Yothin at length in Yothin: The Elbow Goblin.

The crux of Yothin’s outside game is establishing the calf kick. These accrue damage quickly, and force the check from the opponent.

When the check is forthcoming, Yothin can hip feint and instead step through into a southpaw stance and lunge in with an elbow.

We also examined how Yothin can use a hip feint to half turn his body and complete the motion with a legitimate kick as the opponent’s check comes down. 

Chiabkard Por. Pongsawang challenged Yothin for the Rajadamnern title last weekend and while the fight was a spirited back-and-forth contest, the tools he brought to stifle Yothin’s A game were remarkably effective.

Firstly, Chiabkard recognized that the threat of the calf kick was a key factor in Yothin setting up his more damaging sequences and bridging the distance. Chiabkard got to work retracting his leg from the low kick, and throwing out calf kicks of his own.

When Yothin began his step-through sequences off the threat of the calf kick, Chiabkard did used a couple of different methods to prevent him. When Chiabkard picked his lead leg up, it was not turned out to check the calf kick, but used to wedge in a knee and shin block on Yothin’s body, preventing him from getting close enough to land his signature left elbow.

Next was using the arms to physically frame on Yothin as he tried to step through. Just as the knee wedge was performed at the expense of being able to check the calf kick, Chiabkard’s arm frames were applied with the risk that he misread Yothin’s step falling short and serving only to set up a body kick. In both cases, Chiabkard prioritized the jamming of Yothin’s entry to clinch range, where he is at his most dangerous.

As the fight progressed, Chiabkard was able to force Yothin onto the back foot and make stronger reads on Yothin’s shift. The right straight to the body was a keystone of Chiabkard’s offence: it tired Yothin, it broke off his attacks, it jammed him closing the distance on his shifting elbow, and it served to launch into combination punching along the ropes later on.

Framing on Yothin to prevent him closing with his elbow did not prevent Yothin from performing his hip feint, pause, body kick. The right straight to the body slotted in nicely to counter this.

Counter Right Straight