Filipino MMA star Danny Kingad motivated for World Title match in 2020

Photo Courtesy || Team Lakay

Cordillera - One of the best Filipino Mixed Martial Artist Danny Kingad is eyeing for a World Title shot this coming year 2020. To fulfill his dream, he has to beat every tough opponents on the way and win every single match. 

For Kingad, achieving that goal could not be as challenging as the first time he campaigned for the world title in the previous year. 

Joining the World Grand Prix and facing top-caliber athletes in the likes of Senzo Ikeda, Reece McLaren and Demetrious Johnson have been a great test of his ability to go for another challenge. 

In his interview with ONE Championship, Kingad admits joining the World Grand Prix have helped him learned to improve some of his weakness. 

"I learned a lot, I was against top-caliber athletes who were able to make me realize some of my weakness, which I continuously work on to improve. Every bout is different, with each of them having strengths in various disciplines of martial arts, so I had to work on my all-ground game in order to be prepared for anyone I had to face," Kingad said.

Asked about what he had to say about his performance in 2019, the Igorot fighter said he was satisfied with his performance especially when he faced DJ who is considered one of the greatest pound-for-pound fighter of all time. 

"I am very much satisfied with my performance, and I'm really happy to have competed against such talented athletes. Like I said, not everyone can get a chance to compete against an in-his-prime DJ, but I was able to go toe-to-toe with him and push him for three rounds," Kingad shared. 

It was a dream-come-true for Kingad facing Johnson in the final of ONE Flyweight World Grand Prix. Before, he "was just playing against him as a character in a video game but then he actually faced him in a real fight inside the cage.

Right after their fight in October, Johnson admitted that Kingad was the toughest fighter he had ever faced in the World Grand Prix. 

"Danny Kingad was tough, I knew his grappling was strong, I had to try to finish him, Johnson said. 

For Kingad, year 2020 is another year for him to show how much he had grown. 

As ONE Championship CEO Chatri Sidyothong said, "Danny will be king of the division in the future. There's no doubt in my mind that he will be a world champion one day".