Who won the first fight?

Any rules in the world but no elbow no knee no clinch no holding leg. 😆

"this proves that side kicks work against muay thai" I guess they do, if the Muay Thai fighter receives a warning from the ref every single time he grabs the kick of his opponents.

Still love how Thai Boxers will agree to fight, regardless of how many of their tools are made illegal.

Very key thing that you mentioned but completely negated as a factor was in the 2nd fight they changed the rule for this fight so Sagat could not trap the leg and sweep.  That was a key tactic for him in the first fight that he was not allowed to do in the 2nd fight.  Side kicks only work against a Thai boxer IF you cannot sweep.  This is why this fight went the way it did.

The no leg grabbing is quite a big deal. Being able to catch the side kick is a big deterrent…

Sagat was just ridiculous, Peter Cunningham was just as ridiculous. Wish we had had more fights like this today. Perfect highlight thank you 🙏🏻❤️

I love how Muay Thai fighters were fighting with less tools in their arsenal while their opponent could use all of them.
Imagine how difficult it would be to fight with less. You lose your habits, have to think more to do less !

As for those fights, thank you for letting me discover Cunningham. Haven't heard of him before. I really like the  way he moves in space.
1st one is Sagat clear winner at the end of fight.
2nd one was lovely to watch these two exchanging blows. Sagat was fighting from behind.
Sagat's "tiger" uppercut is a pure gem to watch. He was the one that made me realised how to properly execute them. No wonder it is such iconic move in the video game !

I think Sagat won the first fight. Considering the rules changed in the second fight, he still did incredibly well even though he couldn't grab and sweep. He focused too much on the KO and I think it worked against him. Cunningham is beautiful to watch, such grace and flow, it looks so easy when we look at him. It's insane they went 11 rounds, those guys are monsters, I'm not sure if people realize that!
Would have love to see that full muay thai rules honestly.
Thanks for the video as always, great job!

The second match has a set of rules that where designed to give Cunningham a huge advantage. Anyway, both are true legends.

The skill level of these two fighters is very impressive.

street fighter needs to run it back and create a peter cunningham character

The initial description is inaccurate. Cunningham's career record was 52-0-1. No losses; the only draw being his first fight with Sagat.

Sagat was a killer!!

Hate the exclusion of rules.
That’s how you know Muay Thai is the striking king because they always take tools out the arsenal. K1 did an overhaul after the clinch was too effective and took it out pretty much completely.

So much character in both of their movements.

11 rounds of kickboxing... Sounds like hell on earth! The shape you have to be in to fight competitively is ridiculous. Salute to both of these goats. Mr kenshin thank you again for sharing. 😊😊

I kind of feel like cunningham was just uniquely made to counter him. Two freak athletes and both were the best.
Also "He'll fight anyone anywhere with any rules in the world"
Except of course elbows, knees, leg grabs and sweeps which Sagat was much more used to fighting with

The rule changes in the second fight was the difference. It took away many of Sagat’s usual weapons. I’m not sure that we con say that side kicks work against my Thai, Cunningham was a once in a generation fighter, and just because he could do something doesn’t mean others could do the same.  Both are amazing fighters. May Thai rules, Sagat wins.  kickboxing rules, Cunningham wins.

The rules in the second fight took away half of Sagat's arsenal.