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Danny Kingad is set to fight again in ONE Championship after a year of waiting.
With all the talk that 'The King' will be suffering from ring-rust in his return fight against Kiamrat Akhmetov in ONE: Winter Warriors II, the reigning strawweight champion assures that his Team Lakay stablemate is better than ever. In an interview with ONE Championship, he said:
"A lot of people have been saying that Danny might deal with ring rust because he hasn't fought in a long time. But he never stopped training and actually, I believe that the time which was more than a year that Danny spent away from the cage even made him better because he put in the work."
The last time Kingad fought was in ONE Championship: Fire and Fury way back in January 2020. He fought well against Wei Xie to earn a unanimous decision victory. It was his first fight back since losing to Demetrious Johnson in October 2019. His current record now stands at 14-2.
Meanwhile, Akhmetov is a familiar foe to Team Lakay as he has fought former champion Geje Eustaquio twice. 'the Kazakh' will be entering this bout carrying a professional MMA record of 22-4.
Kingad has a Christmas gift for Ahkmetov in their ONE Championship matchup
Being stablemates in Team Lakay, Pacio and Kingad have been training partners and both fighters check each other's weaknesses and strengths.
The strawweight champion insists that ONE Championship has not seen the best of 'The King' and will have a lot of surprises in his upcoming fight with Akhmetov. He added:
"When I say Danny has made lots of improvements, it means that he still has a lot to show for the fans. And when he has said that he has a gift for Kairat, he's really intent to show that because he still has a lot of weapons in his bag."
Pacio can attest to Kingad's heightened skills and he is not the only witness to this. He said:
"Everyone in the gym saw how much improvements he's had as a martial artist. Danny wants to prove that he's ready for primetime and he can't wait to mix it up with some of the best in his weight class."
