The average height of a Thai man is 66 inches, but their hearts are a hundred times larger. Size indeed plays an important role in one-on-one combat. Still, these short warriors are living proof that size isn’t everything and that regardless of your tiny frame, you can achieve great results and be a great fighter. This list can subserve as an inspiration for everyone, and you can discover and take the Thai recipe for relentlessness and not giving up.
Saenchai – 165cm (5’5”)
Suphachai Saepong, better known as “Saenchai,” is a 5’5″ tall Thai fighter. This did not stop him from competing in different categories, such as flyweight, bantamweight, featherweight, lightweight and welterweight.
He is considered one of the best Thai fighters of all time, and his record of 378 bouts with 327 victories, of which 41 come by knockout. In addition to a rich list of fights, his record is enhanced with numerous titles and achievements.
Saenchai fought very often against fighters above his category and only twice lost to fighters of his weight, and he fought all over the world. Being exceptionally calm in the eye of the storm, his fighting style is extraordinarily attractive, and his arsenal is full of all kinds of weapons.
With his enviable flexibility and speed, he succeeds in throwing the tricky kicks, and you never know where his shin will land until it happens. Questionmark kicks, flying switch kicks, or roundhouse kicks, Saenchai can do it all in the blink of an eye, and clinch with him is hell for his opponents.
He also transfers his fighting gift to hand techniques, which explains his boxing record of five matches and five wins. With his short stature and high fighting IQ, he often makes taller opponents look like they are many levels below him. Watching him perform is always an honor and a privilege because he makes art out of every fight and shows what Muay Thai is all about.
Lerdsila Chumpairtour – 165cm (5’5”)
Lerdsila Chumpairtour was born in Thailand and comes from the village of Isaan. He is 5’5″ tall and weighs 137lb. He is a multiple Muay Thai World Champion and a three-time winner of the Rajadamnern Stadium Championship in three divisions.
Chumpairtour fought in super-flyweight, flyweight, bantamweight, super-bantamweight, and lightweight, and in 229 matches, he recorded 191 victories. With his fighting style, he fully justifies the nickname “Mr. Lightning” because his fighting tactics consist of speed, technical orientation, and evasiveness.
He says his style is technically muay femur combined with sneaky elements, which matches his personality. Lerdsila trained at the famous Jocky Gym in Bangkok. There he was surrounded by great fighters with similar fighting styles from a young age, and they are credited with helping him perfect his style.
Lerdsila knows how to have fun during a fight, and his relaxed stance only adds to the success of his style. He is considered one of the fighters with the fastest reflexes in the world and acts as if he can see ten seconds into the future.
Chumpairtour uses taunts to anger his opponents and force them to move forward, then neutralizes them with explosive kicks and flashy counterattacks. He doesn’t take his fights seriously and only goes out to have fun regardless of victory or defeat, so it’s safe to say that he has learned the meaning of dancing on the battlefield.
Sagat Petchyindee – 165cm (5’5”)
Sagat Phonthawee Petchyindee was born in 1957 in Phimai, Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand. A former Muay Thai fighter, he is 5’5” tall, weighs 139 lbs, and has fought at featherweight and lightweight. In his long career, Sagat fought 317 matches, of which he won 266 and knocked out 151 opponents.
Even classic boxing is no stranger to him, as Petchyindee has done 14 fights, with 12 wins and eight knockouts. He won the Rajadamnern Stadium championship twice in two categories. He became the Lumpinee Stadium champion twice in the 135 lbs division.
He is also the WKA World Super Lightweight Champion. Sagat is a fighter with powerful punches for his size, earning him the title of Emperor of Muay Thai in his home country. Considering that his short comrades from Thailand are mostly technicians and use evasive movements, this was not the case with Sagat because his style focused on physical solidity and striking power.
His phenomenal boxing techniques have served him well throughout his career, as we can see from his boxing career in which he won the WBC Asian Boxing Council Lightweight title, the Thai Lightweight Championship, and the OPBF Lightweight Championship with two title defenses.
Anyone who has had the chance to watch Sagat could have seen that apart from his perfect boxing techniques and killer uppercuts, Sagat possesses the lethal Tiger knee as his signature strike. He is a performer of beautiful technique, a master of delivering a clean punch, with impressive boxing mechanics that he has adapted to Muay Thai to create problems for all his opponents. Sagat will surely stay remembered as one of the greatest Thai warriors and, after his retirement, one of the great instructors.
Gingsanglek Tor Laksong – 165cm (5’5”)
Gingsanglek Tor. Laksong was born in 2000 in Buriram Province, Thailand. He is 5’5” tall, weighs 134 lb, fights southpaw, and comes from Thailand Gym Phor.Pinnapat. He won the championship at the Omnoi Stadium in 2020 with two title defenses.
He is still a very young fighter, but his record is 135 wins with 32 losses and five draws, which makes him very experienced. Gingsanglek is known as the fighter who managed to knock out Saenchai. So far, he has managed to show outstanding skill in the ring.
His style consists of precise timing, powerful kicks, and phenomenal technique, which is the main reason for his victories over first-class fighters. Laksong greatest weapon is definitely his sweeps. The way he times his sweeps with well-thought-out setups is truly magnificent.
Before you can get your bearings and figure out what is happening, Laksong will flip you over and flat you to the floor. Whether you attack aggressively or defend against him, you will get swept. A great weapon in his bag is an electric-fast front teep that seems to rip through the body of his opponents.
Other assets of his are quick elbows from the clinch and incredibly strong low kicks for someone his size. He currently fights for the ONE organization, where he has one win and one loss, but considering what was shown so far, he has a bright career ahead of him.
Karuhat Sor Supawan – 161cm (5’3.5”)
Karuhat Sor. Supawan is a former Muay Thai fighter and is one of the names to stand up for when mentioned. Born in 1968 in Khon Kaen Province, he is considered one of the greatest fighters of the Golden Era of Muay Thai and a three-time Lumpinee Stadium champion with two title defenses in two categories.
Standing 5’3.5″ tall and weighing 119 lb, Karuhat was active from 1981 to 2000 and excelled in Thailand in the 1990s. His record is 165 wins in 197 matches, and he has faced all the great fighters of his generation. What he lacked in height, he made up for in technique with his unapproachable movements.
He possessed a clean and highly-intelligent boxing style. He would wisely sweep opponents whenever he saw them put their weight on the front leg, which he seemed to do effortlessly. Karuhat was certainly not someone you would spend time with in the clinch, as he was a true elbow specialist.
Each of his elbows was thrown cleverly with malicious intention, and apart from the impact, would cut the opponent’s skin to result in stopping the match due to a cut. He was an intelligent master of deception who concealed his movements and brilliantly manipulated his opponent’s balance.
Thongchai Tor Silachai – 161cm (5’3”)
Thongchai Tor. Silachai is a former Muay Thai fighter and champion, born in 1971 in Chakkarat, Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand. Standing at 5’3″ and weighing 117 lb., he competed at light flyweight, flyweight, super-flyweight, and bantamweight.
His score is 120 wins and 45 losses with one draw. In the period of activity from 1981 to 2011, he was the champion of Lumpinee Stadium in four categories. He managed to defend one of the titles twice. Thongchai is also the winner of the championship at Rajadamnern Stadium.
Throughout his career, he fought with top names and is one of the few fighters who knocked out Saenchai. Known for his muay mat style with relentless and aggressive attacks accompanied by powerful punches, he was gifted and ferocious, with incredible knockouts to his name. He was a favorite among fans because of his fearless style and small height.
The number of blows and amount of punishment he could receive was incredible, but even more incredible was his ability and power to return every attack to the opponent twice as fast and as hard. In Thailand, he was awarded as the best boxer of the year several times.
Dejdamrong Sor Amnuaysirichoke – 160cm (5’3”)
Dejdamrong Sor Amnuaysirichoke was born in 1978 in Trang, Thailand. He is a retired Muay Thai since 2007. Standing 5’3″ and weighing 125 lb, he fought at mini-flyweight, light-flyweight, and flyweight. Dejdamrong competed for over 25 years in Muay Thai before transitioning to MMA and is an instructor at the Evolve MMA Academy in Singapore.
He holds an unofficial record of 350 matches with 282 wins, 65 losses, and three draws. Dejdamrong won the Shell Rimula tournament, the Omnoi Stadium championship, and multiple Lumpinee Stadium championships.
He is a highly decorated muay bou fighter known for aggressively charging at his opponents from the beginning of the fight, and it was because of his attacking style he got the nickname “fierce eyes.” But because of his style and the Thai tradition of fighting from a young age, he had to retire as old debts came due.
Dejdamrong says that his heart is still as strong as before but that his body has started to fail, so he retired and uses his experience to pass on his skills to younger generations. He is grateful to Muay Thai because it gave him everything in his life, and he will surely be remembered as one of the greats of the sport of shorter stature.
Yoddoi Kaewsamrit -158cm (5’2”)
Yoddoi Kaewsamrit was born in 1996 in Chiang Mai province in Thailand. He is 5’2″ tall, weighs 112 lbs, and represents Kaewsamrit Gym in Bangkok. He is a Christian with a younger brother, Jirakit, who is also a fighter. Yoddoi is an ethnic Karen Muay Warrior, although small in stature, known by his nickname “Mountain Top.”
The Karen people fled over the Myanmar-Thailand border due to ethnic cleansing and civil war. Over a million people have found refuge in Thailand for the past seven decades, making the mountains of Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand Yoddoi’s home.
He is an aggressive Muay Boo fighter with a killer uppercut as his most lethal weapon. Given his resume, we can see that because of his style, he is no stranger to knockouts. So, we can say that he got the Thai titles by knocking out most of his opponents.
Yoddoi is a very young fighter, and when it comes to Thai people, he has a long career ahead of him. He won the four-man The Fighter tournament in 2017, earning his title by two knockouts. In the same and the following year, he is a two-time WPMF champion in the 112lbs category, also by knockout.
In 2017, he knocked out Pumphanmuang and Parnthong to win the Max Muay Thai “The Champion” championship. Currently, Yoddoi is fighting for ONE, where he has two losses and is on a mission to get back to winning ways.
Songchainoi Kiatsongrit – 156cm (5’1”)
Songchainoi Kiatsongrit was born in 2001 in Samat Prakan province in Thailand. He is 5’1″ tall, weighs 115 lbs, and represents Kiatsongrit Muay Thai Gym. He is currently under contract with ONE fighting organization, for which he has done only one match.
He last fought on January 27, 2023, when he was at the Thailand event, ONE Friday Fights 2, and defeated his compatriot Yoddoi Kaewsamrit by unanimous decision. Since 2022, Kiatsongrit earned the nickname “Great Short Danger” by boxing fans due to his small frame and his trademark boxing style.
Songchainoi is a young fighter with little fists but a huge warrior’s heart. People watching him said, “his heart is too big for his small body.” He is incredibly short compared to all his opponents. Still, he always gives one hundred percent of himself and a phenomenal performance to everyone who watches him.
He always manages to overcome all disadvantages due to his iron will. Songchainoi is a hard-working boxer who corrects and strengthens his shortcomings from fight to fight. No matter how much bigger his opponents are, he makes it difficult for them every second he spends in the ring.
Lakhai Sor Panachaerpetch – 142cm (4’8”)
Lakhai Sor Panachaerpetch was born in 1980 in Mae Suai District of Chiang Rai Province. At 4’8” tall, Lakhai is recognized as the shortest Muay Thai fighter in history. His nickname, Lak-Hai, means an invincible milestone associated with a stone that cannot be seen from the blades of grass.
A well-known fact is that Thais are short people, but Lakhai managed to preempt that too. He started training Muay Thai at 11 and lost many fights in his career, which did not stop him from continuing even though he was ridiculed early in his career.
Lakhai embraced the criticism and ridicule and nicknamed himself the Alien, which was a real shock and a wonder to the martial arts industry. In his career full of ups and downs, his style identified with his big heart, warrior mentality, and patience on the battlefield, and he could take a high level of punishment.
Despite many defeats, Panachaerpetch managed to win fights on points and even knock out some of his opponents. This boxer from the north quickly became a favorite among people, especially in Thailand, where people value warrior mentalities.
Regardless of his height disadvantage, Panachaepetch was extremely strong and tough. He would receive many kicks while shortening the opponent’s distance. When he succeeded, he would often knock out with a strong punch.
Initially, people thought he would have difficulty making a name for himself on the Thai scene. Still, now it is clear to everyone that his name will remain engraved in the records of eternity as one of the greats of Thai boxing, small in stature but with a big heart.
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