MMA Fighter vs. Muay Thai Legend: High Risk High Reward 

When an MMA fighter takes on a Muay Thai legend that's already one of the most decorated kickboxers of his time, the MMA fighter is not supposed to win. How did he almost do it? We explore in this historic feature. Hello everyone. I am coming out with a new book called “Legendary Striking.” I believe this ebook is the heart and soul of all the work I’ve done thus far. I am giving away a free preview that includes 60 pages of content. I hope you will enjoy this preview of my upcoming book as much as you’ve enjoyed my videos. It would mean a lot to me if you went and checked out the page: www.LegendaryStriking.com and give the preview a reading chance.

Buakaw 2nd round: Your free trial has ended

much respect to dida. when he went to his corner after extended round you could see how much pain he was in.

6:30 If I saw him rushing me down like that, I'd die of a heart attack before his kick would land lol

Buakaw blocks punches with his goddamn face!!!!!

The winner deserves more credit too. Fighting back after everyone thought he was defeated is incredible

Buakaw was just testing him at first. He even looked badass taking a beating lol.

When they mention "welcome to K1" more like welcome to the support group for those wrecked by buakaw

The commentators for this fight are absolutely hilarious. My favorite call: "HE'S TAKING MORE PUNISHMENT THAN A BONDAGE PARLOR!" Pure gold lol

When you realize buakaw almost never took a step back

Buakaw is a respectful fighter. It is obvious that he didn't fight in full power when he knew that Dida was almost exhausted.

The Muai Thai fighter decimated that poor MMA Fighter, it was a good match.

He may have lost the fight, but his heart is legendary.

as someone with very little bjj experience, and no striking experience, it is FASCINATING to watch these breakdowns. i could watch this fight 1000 times and not pick up on the subtleties you point out, well done!

The risk buakaw take to calculate all punches, measurements, and testing the enemies stamina that's the risk he takes to finish a fight of with monstrous kicks, and deadly knee strikes., buakaw is really a legendary muai thai athlete..

Buakaw, real impressive. He is one of the greatest martial artists in history .

Man, that dude kept turning his back during the fight looking for the exit door in the ring in the last 2 rounds. Brutal... exhausted and just taking hits.

Buakaw is superhuman. This guy is incredible.

Just hearing about this man and I’m so shocked at his resilience.

Buakaw after getting knocked down: "So you have chosen...death"

Dida took a lot of beatings to his face and esp kidneys, that's why he kept running away or curling away

Muy Thai training turns you into a cyborg! Pain is pleasure! BRING IT ON!!

great analysis. i appreciate how you kind of focused on the philosophy of the fight and what it meant at a deeper level than just what happened.

As a Thai fighter, I will never fight a fight where I'm limited to only punches, kicks and some knees. Muay Thai was created for ultimate combat and all out brawls with no rules. I see so many Thai fighters fail because they are not allowed to kick a certain way, punch a certain way, or throw elbows and knees a certain way in competition. This is not fair. Kinda like if I said a boxer can only use jabs and hooks....smh, or a grappler can not use choke holds. Bull....

One more thing to note is the excellent head movement shown by Buakaw after that knockdown. Guys like Yodsanklai and Buakaw have excellent head movements to evade and punish which defy the idea of people who say Muay Thai is only about stand and bang. Amazed how Dida was able to stand getting kneed and kicked like that by Buakaw. Mindblowing video!

Wow! Awesome match and comeback from Buakaw. Respect for Dida, fought really wel!

Its a K-1 event, they fight under kickboxing rules not Muay Thai rules. And MMA is not a fighting style, so if this "MMA" fighter trained mostly for Kickboxing than he is in a advantage. If this fight was fought under Muay Thai rules the outcome would have been different.

He should fight in the UFC and test himself against the best martial artists in the world. People would love his style

Buakaw my favorite fighter,from malaysia.

Oh wow, Muay Thai vs a MMA fighter without grappling. So its literally a Muay Thai fighter vs someone that cant use 90% of his techniques.

This is not mma techniques this is boxing ...

So glad I found this RU-vid channel 👌

The great fight of lion heart Buakaw.

Buakaw saw Dida's weak spot on the second round, try counting how many times he hit Dida's ribs with his knees and etc.

I'm trying to learn Muay Thai (without proper training on my own but whatever). This gives me hope

I would like to see kickbox or muay thai with mma gloves. Same thai rules but with small gloves.

Muay Thai is a very deadly sport...they have heart and their strikes hit like a bus

I respect buakaw BUT LETS NOT FORGET the incredible HEART the mma fighter DIDA showed and he didn't give up 💪💪💪💪💯

I think in order to have a chance against him in a fight with no rules is to take him down to the ground, preventing him from his deadly kicks etc and getting a submission

Muay Thai seems to have incredible character to adapt as per opponents style.

It's the Rick Roufus strategy all over again. Go big first round, go down after. Muy Thai fighters are resilient as hell. They take beat downs like no other. Bukaw got blasted the first round and any other fighter would go down, but he got back up like it was nothing. Kiatsongrit had his jaw broken in the first round by Rick Roufus and he still came back and destroyed Roufus. I may be mistaken, and I'm sure many Muy Thai fighters are not as tough, but this strategy has proven ineffictive angains world class Muy Thai fighters IMHO, because they specifically train against this strategy. An effective strategy however, that Muy Thai fighters use against non Muy Thai fighters - attack low first few rounds, training your opponent to block low. After enough low kicks, the opponent will be programmed to block low when he sees a kick coming. In the last round, when the Muy Thait fighter loads a kick and the opponent instinctively lowers his hands to block low, that is when the kick come up high and blasts the opponents head. Good night, sleep tight. Saw this used against Benny Urquidez.

Did you even Knock someone out if the one you Knocked out isn't even Knocked-Out?

This was 1 of the nicest videos I've seen. The breakdown was so intense and balanced, both of them showed tremendous heart, which was clearly pointed out. At the end, Buakaw showed a lot of respect for the guy, by congratulating his corner and staying there so long, he knew this fight was 1 of a kind. Big respect to both of the fighters, but in the end it was a justified win. I'm so happy for them to have made this match up. Lot's of love...

Massive respect to Dida. He's a tough one. Buakaw is insane

Buakaw get knocked Buakaw : finally some worthy opponent. Aggressive mode-active. Welcome to hell.

When your opponent is smiling after you knock him down... run

Buakaw in the 2nd round: "I have downloaded 100% of your moveset"

The most embarrassing part of this fight was the commentators who became noticeably quiet after round 1

Dida at the end of the fight: "Thank God it's over now, gotta go get an MRI to check for internal injuries now, I've been run over by a truck"

“You can’t beat him hand to hand” Buakaw: analyze his fight pattern Round 2: let’s kick his ass

Look at Buakaw's neck... Even his muscles have muscles.

Western fighters: imma end it in the first rd Muay thai fighter: imma make his life hell for the next 3 rds

It's really impressive how buakaw remained so calm even tho those shots could've knocked most fighters out.

ngl Dida showed alot of heart,a "Dont give up attitude" even if he goes down alot of times he still always gets back up

Buakaw: I'm still sleepy, ah this first round will wake me up.

How many punches can Buakaw take : ...... Buakaw's face : yes

I'm more impressed with the commentary: "All over him like a fat kid on a cupcake" "More punishment than a bondage parlour"

2:53 dude stood up after taking this blow to the face and smiled... that's when you know your fcked for the rest of the rounds.

The human head was not meant to take a punch Buakaw: hold my beer

360 fights 4 lost in 8 years , AMAZING! both fighters showed a lot of heart in this fight!

Buakaw is made of titanium. Strong and powerful. The living legend.

Buakaw in first round be like, "I have enough warming up." Buakaw in second round, "Now time to punching bag exercise."

Imagine you've just been winning a fight for nearly 2minutes and then you feel that first kick and you know you're in trouble...

The commentary gotta be Aussie😂 - "All over him like a fat kid on a cupcake." "Uppercut went so high he hit a cloud." "More punishment that a bondage parlour."

Legendary Buakaw only gets stronger after receiving punches as many as opponent throws on his face. Opponent be like: Wtf Iron face?😄

Buakaw be like Power:50% Stamina:50% Defensive:1% Chin:99%

He took that massive hook and smiled after getting up easily. He took the beating like it was nothing. Buakaw wasn't close to getting beaten if you ask me.

Everyone "the head wasn't meant to get hit that hard" Me: the stomach wasn't meant to get hit 100 times oof 😱

My most scared feeling is to think about Dida's pain in the next day and later weeks.

Buakaw is the greatest ever. incredible strength, resilience, comeback power..he is simply the best fighter in his weight class and the world will remember him as a true legend. love you dear buakaw

Wow buakaw still standing after those pounches?! What a monster

Buakaw uses his opponents as an alarm clock, "Yo,wake me up after the 2nd round"

If elbow blows was alowed the mma guy wouldn't last half of the time he just survived

Buakaw was clearing reading the opponents move in the early rounds.

Besides being one of the best fights I have ever seen.. the attitude of these fighters between each other was just fantastic. They were friendly and professional and openly showed gratitude towards each other, as did their teams. Well done !

The MMA Figher is pretty respectable too. But Buakaw is insane.

If Buakaw would hit me once, the surgeon could play puzzle with my crushed corpse. Respect to All his opponents who are able to survive this legend.

First round Buakaw is probably just observing and learning how hard the opponent's punches. Next round, death

When buakaw become serious,.. his muscle like stone.. But opponent can hold pain until finish, great fighter.

Buakaw deserve more than this..he should be like khabib,mayweather,pacquiao and conor..his technic and toughness were out of this world..RESPECT

It's so funny to see Buakaw fighting when he's angry. You can clearly see his anger, and also feel it. Great video, as always Kenshin.

Thats why most of muay thai fighter doing their neck training really hard..

Buakaw is a muay thai legend and dida is a person that never gives up both of them are amazing✨

Buakaw after round one....here hold my singha

He was loosing then won and went to the opponents team and gave his respect. What a legend what a humble gentlemen. Well done 🙏🏼

It's a showcase for Dida but everyone who saw the fight saw how quickly his spirit got snuffed out after round 1 when Buakaw turned it up lol

Nice adjust from buakaw, break dida's body, make him can't punch. Must to have a strong body when you fight against muay thai fighter

The MMA fighter released much energy in the first round, big mistake. He didn't save enough fuel for the rest of the rounds

Buakaw is a master at his weapons. A great sportsman and legend of martial arts. His flights are always entertaining to watch. Respect !!!

This is like when iron man took a beating from captain america to analyse his pattern. Then BOOM

So this is the final boss fight from K1.

Wow,, look at how humble Buakaw is after winning salute respect to the opponent

Buakaw turned it up after round 1 but what a first round by Dida

Dida's body was crushed, I bet he wasn't able to walk for weeks. That was brutal...

Dude shot his load in the first round and had nothing more for the rest of the fight. He knew if he couldn't do it in the first it was over for him.

I hope Dida had insurance on liver, kidneys etc. Lol

I loved how the whole arena went quiet. Dida was getting baptised 😂

“He was so close”??? What fight were they watching?

Buakaw is a prodigy in reading his opponents and adjusting his style to them, the only option is beating him fast or with a lucky well landed shot. His win chances go up every second

great breakdown! Dida showed tremendous heart staying in there for the last 3 rounds to just get tenderized by Buakaw