Yod-IQ Or Pimolsri faces undefeated Russian knockout artist Kiamran Nabati in the bantamweight Muay Thai main event of The Inner Circle, streaming live for members at live.onefc.com from Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand on Friday, May 22.
The 24-year-old carries a 126-36 career record, a US$100,000 ONE Championship contract earned with a head kick knockout of Alexey Balyko last December, and a training partner most fighters would trade careers for.
The man on the other side of his daily pad sessions is reigning ONE Featherweight Muay Thai World Champion Tawanchai PK Saenchai, the fighter Yod-IQ followed obsessively through his high school years.
The journey from fan to teammate took patience. Yod-IQ joined PK Saenchai Muaythaigym and spent over a year living in a separate room before their friendship took hold. When Saensatharn retired and Tawanchai found himself without a roommate, he asked Yod-IQ to move in. That was the turning point.
“I’d looked up to him as an idol since his days at Sor Thanapetch. I never dreamed I’d end up at the same gym as my hero. But when we first met at the gym, we weren’t close. We stayed in different rooms for about a year and a half before we really started hanging out,” he said.
“Tawanchai shared a room with Saensatharn, but once [he] retired, Tawanchai was on his own. He asked me to move in and be his roommate. Since then, we’ve been close, and we train together all the time.”
Yod-IQ Or Pimolsri carries one piece of Tawanchai’s advice into every fight he takes
Yod-IQ Or Pimolsri did not just gain a training partner when he moved in with Tawanchai. He gained a daily masterclass in what it takes to compete at the top level, and a voice in his ear that speaks from experience most coaches never accumulate.
That proximity produced the head kick that knocked out Balyko and earned the contract. It also produced something harder to measure: the refusal to quit. Tawanchai’s instruction comes down to one line, repeated before every fight.
“The best advice he ever gave me was that he wants me to follow in his footsteps, and when I’m in a fight, he reminds me to never give up easily. I carry that with me constantly. No matter how much it hurts, you don’t just quit,” he said.
“I have this dream in my head — if I could become a World Champion alongside him, holding our belts together, that would be the most incredible, beautiful dream come true for me. He’s my blueprint for boxing. His Muay Thai is so fluid and beautiful. I just love that style.”