MANILA – After an igniting campaign display last year, Filipino mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter Danny Kingad aims to continue his momentum this year as he hopes to be ONE’s world champion from Team Lakay.
In 2019, Kingad impressed the MMA world when he clashed against all-time great Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson in the ONE Flyweight World Grand Prix Championship Final.
Although the Filipino bowed down in that match, he got back on the winning road after a split decision victory over Xie “The Hunter” Wei during ONE: Fire and Fury last January.
“We’re hoping this is the year Danny (Kingad) gets the belt,” Team Lakay head coach Mark Sangiao said. “He has always been a world championship material. It is just a matter of putting things together.”
“What makes him really stand out is his explosiveness and power. You can really see how strong he is, and it comes naturally,” he added.
“We call it the Igorot Power over here. Ever since he started, you already saw his cuts. You could see he has a ready-made body for this. He has always been built for this. His speed and power come naturally,” he further said.
For his part, Kingad’s best friend Joshua “The Passion” Pacio (ONE Strawweight World Champion) also believes that his pal has the caliber to follow his footsteps as a ONE world champion.
“Danny’s work ethic is second-to-none,” Pacio said. “We’ve been together since our amateur days and then we turned pro at the same time, so I can see how he really works.”
“I have no doubt that he will hold the belt someday. For me, he is a champion now. I thought he performed well against DJ (Johnson). He hung in there and showed what he can really do,” he added./PN
