By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
One of the best Mixed Martial Artists (MMA) in the Philippines is ready for his highly-anticipated return to the ONE Championship stage.
Danny Kingad, the country’s former National Wushu champion from Sadanga, Mountain Province, has been called up to fight in the undercard of ONE Fight Night 7 on February 25, 2023, to be held at the Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.
Kingad will be fighting again after two years since his loss against Kairat Akhmetov of Kazakhstan via a unanimous decision ruling by all of the judges.
Despite the loss and his hiatus from combat sports, the Team Lakay legend still maintained his spot in ONE FC’s flyweight rankings and is the no. 3 ranked fighter.
Kingad will have the chance to be in the division’s championship contenders once again if he will take care of his first business of 2023.
The crafty Filipino tactician will be squaring off against Indonesian rising star Eko Roni Saputra who is currently holding an impressive record of seven wins and only one loss.
Saputra is looking to protect his six-fight winning streak and is yet to taste defeat since April 12, 2019 when he suffered a technical knockout (TKO) stoppage from Nico Soe.
After his first loss in ONE FC, Saputra went berserk mode and took down all of his opponents via submission or TKO.
On the other hand, Kingad will be looking to get back on track after dropping his last two fights while only winning one in the last three years.
Kingad was supposed to fight last December in ONE’s event in Manila but his opponent, Gurdarshan Mangat, suddenly pulled out due to an injury.