Kittichai Churat (Thai:กิตติชัย ชูรัตน์; born January 1, 1987), known professionally asSagetdao Petpaiyathai (Thai:สะเก็ดดาว เพชรพญาไท) is a Thai former professionalMuay Thai fighter andmixed martial artist. He is a three-timeLumpinee Stadium champion and one-timeRajadamnern Stadium champion across two divisions. He was especially known for his powerful knee and clinch style of fighting.[2] Nowadays he teaches atEvolve MMA in Singapore.[3]
Sagetdao is one of three children in his family, but he's the only child to have fought in Muay Thai. Sagetdao began his career at the age of 10 at the Nalakap Gym in Maha Sarakham, Northeast Thailand.[4] He fought around 100 times for this camp over the course of 7 years. At 17 he moved to Bangkok and began training at the Kiatpetch Gym.
In 2007, he captured stadium titles at bothLumpinee Boxing Stadium andRajadamnern Boxing Stadium. By 2008, he was a household name in the Muay Thai world and made the top fighters take notice when he knocked out veteran Nongbee Kiatyongyut on aChannel 7 broadcast.
In 2009 he participated in a special rules fight where he teamed withPetchboonchu FA Group to take on #1 fighter,Saenchai Sinbimuaythai and the duo was defeated. After losing to Saenchai, Sagetdao would go to England and fight their best fighter,Liam Harrison. Sagetdao frustrated the Englishman with hard kicks and survived big punches to earn a decision. After this victory, Sagetdao would once again meet up with Saenchai, but this time he was doing it on his own. The fight took place at the annual year-end Lumpini stadium birthday show. Most expected Saenchai to win comfortably, Sagetdao, however, had other plans, and he stunned the crowd by beating Saenchai over 5 rounds.
In 2010 he beat fellow clinch master,Petchboonchu FA Group, and closed the year out strong by stopping Denkiri Sor. Sommai with a body punch that would be voted channel 7 fight of the year. In 2011 he beatNong-O Sit Or,Petchboonchu FA Group,Saenchai Sinbimuaythai, andSingdam Kiatmuu9. In October he would once again fight abroad, this time in America, his opponent was American,Kevin Ross. This fight was for the WBC Diamond super lightweight belt and Sagetdao would win with a stoppage at the end of round 3 because of a large cut on Ross's head from an elbow.[5]In 2012 he lost his first 3 fights. In his 4th fight of the year he beatPetchboonchu FA Group, and in his 5th he beatPenek Sitnumnoi[6][7] He beat Sofiane Derdega to retain the WBC super lightweight championship.[8]
He lost toPakorn Sakyothin by unanimous decision at Lumpinee on June 9, 2013.[17]
He won the four-man 68 kg tournament atMAX Muay Thai 3 in Zhengzhou, China on August 10, 2013.,[18][19] beatingLiam Harrison by decision in the semi-finals and defeating Zhang Dezhang after an extension round in the final.[20][21]
He beat two opponents on points,Andrei Kulebin in the semi-finals and Victor Nagbe in the final, to win the tournament atMAX Muay Thai 5: The Final Chapter in Khon Kaen, Thailand on December 10, 2013.[22][23]
On February 16, 2014, Sagetdao suffered his first TKO loss and first foreigner loss toQiu Jianliang. He was rocked numerous times by Qiu's punches during the course of the fight. Finally, he was knocked down by a straight left punch to the chin. The referee called the stoppage to the fight after Qiu finished him with flurry of punches in the last 10 seconds of the fight.[24]
Sagetdao made his return to Muay Thai atONE Championship: Reign of Dynasties 2 on October 16, 2020. His faced Zhang Chunyu, with it being his first time competing under the ONE Super Series ruleset, as well as his first Muay Thai fight since 2014.[25] He would go on to win by unanimous decision.
In 2017, Sagetdao began a career in mixed martial arts. He signed for the Singapore-based organizationONE Championship. He made his debut that March, with a first-round TKO of Kevin Ong. He finished the year with two more first-round stoppage victories, against Mahmoud Mohamed and Jimmy Yabo.
Sagetdao suffered his first defeat in MMA on June 30, 2018. He was announced as winning his bout with Ma Jia Wen by unanimous decision, but the result was later overturned, and the win was awarded to Ma.[26]
