Before the UFC came along in 1993, it was nearly impossible to truly test your martial art against another. The only way that you could do so was by finding someone who studied an opposing style who also wanted to test their own.
Changpuek was one of the first fighter’s to begin traveling across the world to showcase the art of Muay Thai against others. You might even say that he is one of the reason’s Muay Thai is so internationally known today.
In the video, Changpuek has flown all the way to Japan to take on the famed pro wrestler Yoki Anjo. The Muay Thai legend was two inches shorter and outweighed by twenty pounds but that had become normal to him. Yoji Anjo must also be given his own props for stepping up to fight such a technically-sound monster in his first attempt at shootfighting or MMA.
Curious to see who wins? Check out the fight below.
About Yoji Anjo:
Yoji Anjo is a retired Japanese professional wrestler and mixed martial artist. Yoji’s first shootfight was in UWF Newborn, after offering himself to fight Muay Thai champion Changpuek Kiatsongrit in the 1989 event U-Cosmos. Under mixed rules, Changpuek chose to wear gloves while Anjo did not.
At the beginning of the fight, Yoji immediately clinched Changpuek to avoid his striking and repeatedly tried to take him down, but the Thai fighter kept holding the ring ropes in order to avoid it. After rounds, they traded kicks and Yoji cornered him in the turnbuckle several times, with Kiatsongrit never releasing the ropes. The Japanese wrestler managed to threaten him with submissions at the final round, but he couldn’t lock them due to the rope escape rule, so the fight ended in a draw.
About Changpuek Kiatsongrit:
Changpuek Kiatsongrit is a retired Thai Muay Thai kickboxer. He is credited as being one of the first Muay Thai fighters to go abroad and fight other fighters of other martial arts styles, often stronger and heavier than himself, bringing to the world an understanding of the effectiveness of Muay Thai.
Changpuek is a seven time world champion who has fought some of the world’s best fighters at middleweight to heavyweight and has wins against world class fighters such as Rob Kaman (x3), Rick Roufus, Peter Smit and Tosca Petridis. After ending his career as a professional fighter while working for Sitpholek gym in Pattaya, Thailand, he continued his employment at that gym as a Muay Thai
trainer. [Source: Wikipedia]
