Team Lakay rallies behind Danny Kingad as he enters career-defining bout

Team Lakay is rallying behind Danny “The King” Kingad as he is set to lock horns with pound-for-pound great Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson in the final of the ONE Flyweight World Grand Prix.

The two best martial artists from the ONE Flyweight Division are set to meet at ONE: Century on October 13 at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo, Japan.

And Kingad’s team is excited for him.

“He has a big chance of being a World Champion. He’s really young with tons of heart,” former ONE Lightweight World Champion Eduard Folayang said.

“He already has power and skill. What DJ will have over him is his experience and confidence. However, if Danny can come in with confidence in himself, you’ll see his true strength.”

In his latest outing, Kingad punched his ticket to the tournament final by beating former World Title challenger Reece “Lightning” McLaren in a narrow split decision.

The 23-year old is currently on a six-bout winning streak, a streak which started after losing for the first time in his career when he got submitted by ONE Flyweight World Champion Adriano “Mikinho” Moraes at ONE: Legends of the World in November 2017.

It was a loss that fueled Kingad’s tour de force in the division, but Folayang believes that things are gonna be different now if they meet again.

“I think that loss was the result of him being overwhelmed,” Folayang explained.

“Of course, Moraes is a jiu-jitsu black belt, but as time goes by, Danny was able to understand that it doesn’t matter.”

Team Lakay’s head trainer Mark Sangiao sang the same tune.

With how Kingad is performing now, he believes that Kingad can truly give Johnson a run for his money in the final.

“Demetrious is in for a grind. We cannot underestimate him because he’s Demetrious Johnson – he’s the pound for pound king. But we can’t count out Danny as well, maybe he’s the true king,” Sangiao said.

“The semifinals showed that there are no easy fights here. That means a lot to us.”

Sangiao shared that he is giving Kingad a well-deserved break after his latest win. However, it will not be long as the team is planning to get back to work to prepare for the most important bout of Kingad’s career.

“We’ll study it. We’ll work on it. Let’s see how Danny can beat Demetrious.”

Tune in to watch ONE Championship’s next event, ONE: Dreams of Gold, by downloading the ONE Super App. The action starts Friday, August 16 at 6:30pm local time.

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