Muay Thai icon Prajanchai open to possible MMA transition: "I want to know what it feels to have my arm twisted"
Reigning ONE strawweight Muay Thai world champion Prajanchai PK Saenchai is set to jump shift into kickboxing and challenge Jonathan Di Bella for his bantamweight kickboxing throne at ONE Friday Fights 58. The April 5 bout will be his first attempt to conquer a second sport in ONE Championship.
However, kickboxing will not be the final frontier for the Thai world champion, as he has his sights set on a third sport: MMA. Though full-on cage fighting might be a world away from the realms of pure striking, the PK Saenchai fighter has the work ethic and mentality to excel at it quickly.
While an MMA world title is not on the horizon yet, Prajanchai's main motivation to transition is simply curiosity at this point.
He told ONE Championship:
"Sure, if someday I have a chance. I want to test my skill in MMA and I want to know what it feels [to have] my arm twisted."
Prajanchai has been working on his grappling with Mikey Musumeci
If Prajanchai transitions into MMA in the future, he will have the finest grappling coach in the world. At the PK Saenchai gym, the Thai world champion has been learning grappling with none other than ONE flyweight submission grappling world champion Mikey Musumeci.
'Darth Rigatoni' has been frequenting Thailand to learn the Art of Eight Limbs, while also sharing some of his master-level jiu-jitsu knowledge with Thai fighters. Aside from the PK Saenchai gym, Musumeci also trained at the Superbon Training Camp, and the Jitmuangnon gym.
Here's a video of him teaching the ONE strawweight Muay Thai world champion some attacks off of his back:
As far as grappling teachers go, it doesn't get any better than Musumeci. A stint in MMA will not be so hard for any striker if they have 'Darth Rigatoni' in their corner.
ONE Friday Fights 58 goes down at the historic Lumpinee Boxing Stadium and is available free on ONE Championship's digital platforms.