Kingad carries PHL flag in ONE: A New Era

BAGUIO. Team Lakay’s Danny Kingad nearly submits Senzo Ikeda in the first round during their flyweight world grand prix clash in Tokyo, Japan. (ONE Championship Photo)
BAGUIO. Team Lakay’s Danny Kingad nearly submits Senzo Ikeda in the first round during their flyweight world grand prix clash in Tokyo, Japan. (ONE Championship Photo)

DANNY Kingad welcomed the challenge as he fought gallantly to advance in the semi – finals of One Championship’s Flyweight World Grand Prix.

The Team Lakay stalwart continued his run of delivering show-stealing bouts as he battled to a unanimous decision win against Senzo Ikeda at ONE: A New Era.

Kingad’s victory however was eclipsed by back to back losses of teammates Kevin Belingon and Eduard Folayang who both yielded the world bantamweight and lightweight titles to Bibiano Fernandes and Shinya Aoki, respectively.

Kingad made to work hard in Tokyo, Japan by a local favorite who had the hometown crowd on his side at the Ryogoku Kokugikan.

The contest started out at lightning speed as both athletes darted in and out of range to exchange heavy strikes where Kingad capitalized on a wayward Ikeda left hook to shoot in for a takedown. On the mat, the Filipino took his rival’s back as he tried to get away from danger.

With a body triangle locked on, Kingad fired away with punches, but Ikeda somehow managed to get back into guard, and then to his feet.

Both competitors were breathing hard at the end of round two, but when the third got underway, their energy had returned.

Kingad once again came out hard in pursuit of another takedown, but his rival ended up with the advantage as he took the back and fired off some powerful punches to the head.

However, the tenacious Filipino did not wilt under the pressure. He shrugged off Ikeda and roared back into the contest with a big knee before both men returned to their feet.

Kingad was more active, but just when it looked like Ikeda had lost the spring in his step, he would explode forward and exchange strikes with his younger counterpart.

The Japanese athlete’s efforts were not quite enough, however, as all three judges awarded Kingad the unanimous decision victory after 15 minutes of breathless action.

With his fifth win in a row, the Baguio City native improved his record to 13-1 and advanced to the ONE Flyweight World Grand Prix semi-finals, where he will meet Kairat Akhmetov following his victory against Reece McLaren earlier in the night.

Aoki put on a masterful display of grappling dominance as he submitted Folayang to be crowned the new ONE lightweight world champion.

After flashing a high kick, Aoki shot in for a single leg and put Folayang on the mat with a takedown. He then swiftly transitioned into an arm-triangle choke from half guard. Aoki tightened his squeeze and put Folayang to sleep before celebrating the victory in front of his hometown crowd.

An unfortunate sequence of events turned in the ONE bantamweight world title clash between Belingon and Fernandes.

Fernandes, who was in the driver’s seat after two rounds of action, landed a takedown in the third round but was left unable to continue after Belingon connected on a flurry of illegal elbows to the back of the head.

Belingon was shown a Red Card and was automatically disqualified handing the title to Fernandes.

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