Yoddecha Sityodtong vs Shannon Forrester 2007

This fight is special to me because I stumbled on it very early in my travels with Muay Thai. It shows what very good technical, powerful, and elegant Muay Thai could look like.

Yoddecha Sityodtong is a former champion at Lumpini, likely at 147 lb, the heaviest category there until 154 lb was introduced this year. He was trained at the Sityodtong camp by Kru Yodtong, like Samart. Currently he teaches at Evolve-MMA in Singapore and is, by all accounts, a very nice person. As a child, he actually lived on the streets as an orphan and was taken in by the Sityodtong camp.

You may remember him from the Muay Thai/ Muay Boran episode of Human Weapon in which he sparred Jason Chambers.

Watch for his beautiful high kicks. He fights in white trunks in this bout.

Shannon Forrester is an Aussie Muay Thai fighter. The Australian Muay Thai scene is thriving and produces some very good fighters. I am not sure if Forrester is still active, but even since 2007, Australian Muay Thai has advanced a long way and produced excellent fighters like Dane "Daddy Kool" Beauchamp/Beecham (according the the commentators), Eli "Mad Dog" Madigan, Michael "Tomahawk" Thompson, and Eugene "Boom Boom" Ekkelboom. Of course, John Wayne Parr, Bruce McFie, and Soren Mongkongtong are still around, though I believe Soren has semi-retired from fighting.

Australian Muay Thai is more faithful to Thai Muay Thai than most other international scenes. Full rules are the norm and most fighters choose to do the Wai Kru and Ram Muay. The general style produces a lot of knockouts with strong punches and elbows. There is not so much clinching as in Thailand and punches score significantly more. International fighters compete there with good frequency.

Forrester seems experienced in the different aspects of Muay Thai. Most of his offense comes by way of punching. He also looks to be a little heavier than Yoddecha, though Yoddecha has an edge in experience. Forrester wears the red shorts.

The uploader took the liberty of replaying two critical junctures in the fight, but it's done in a way that can help viewers parse the action, especially for those new to Muay Thai.

Part 1