Danny Kingad saves day for Pinoy fighters

MANILA, Philippines — After his fellow Filipino MMA fighters fell one after the other, Danny Kingad came to save the day by beating Australia’s Reece McLaren in ONE: Dawn of Heroes at the MOA Arena in Pasay City last Friday.

The victory set up Kingad for a world flyweight Grand Prix title showdown with former UFC champion Demetrious Johnson.

Kingad, 23, pulled off the hard-earned split decision victory over McLaren, a last-minute replacement for Kazakhstan’s Kairat Akhmetov, in a triumph heralded the Team Lakay standout’s rise to MMA fame, including a face-off with the highly-touted Johnson, who bested Japan’s Tatsumitsu Wada via unanimous decision.

If Kingad beats Johnson, who ranked high among the pound-for-pound fighters in MMA in his prime, he could earn a title shot against reigning division champion Adriano Moraes, who dealt Kingad his one and only defeat – a first-round submission via rear-naked choke in ONE: Legends of the World, also at the MOA Arena two years ago.

Getting back at Moraes would be Kingad’s biggest motivation after the latter racked up six straight victories, the latest over McLaren, who fell to his seventh defeat against 12 wins.

“That has been my goal, to become a champion,” said Kingad, who defeated Japan’s Senzo Ikada in ONE: New Era last May in Tokyo to seal a clash with McLaren.

Kingad’s victory likewise averted what could’ve been a disastrous night for the Filipino fighters after Eduard Folayang, Geje Eustaquio, Honorio Banario and Edward Kelly dropped their respective matches.

Folayang lost in the first round via submission (rear-naked choke) to another ex-UFC star Eddie Alvarez to dash his hopes of reclaiming the lightweight crown he yielded to Japanese Shinya Aoki months before.

Eustaquio, another former ONE champion in the flyweight class, suffered a devastating first-round knockout defeat to Japanese Yuya Wakamatsu; Banario bowed to South Korean Dae Sung Park via unanimous decision; and Kelly lost to Chinese Xie Bin via technical decision.