Photo by Tristan Tamayo/ INQUIRER.net
Locked in a triangle choke, Danny Kingad tried to stay calm. It’s the final two minutes of the third and last round and the Filipino mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter knew that his Malaysian opponent, Muhammad Aiman, could force him into submission.
It’s a tormenting position no fighter would want to get caught into—the opponent’s legs encircling his neck and one arm, which could constrict blood flow to the brain and force him to tap out lest he goes unconscious.
But even in that horrible situation, the Baguio City warrior showed no signs of giving up. Mustering all his strength, he tried to inch his way out. And with less than 30 seconds left, Kingad popped his head free.
Finishing the bout in a flurry, Kingad unleashed a round of strikes and pulled off a unanimous decision victory in that April fight to rule the One Championship flyweight showdown. In surviving the late scare, the 21-year-old kept his professional record unblemished at 5-0.
“In my last fight, I learned so many lessons,” he says in Filipino. “There’s always a right moment. Every fight is a lesson.”
As Kingad learned—even in life outside the cage—there’s always a fighting chance of getting out of a tight fix.
It wasn’t too long ago when he got himself into a riskier position as a high school teen who partied, drank and smoked too much. It could have been a downward spiral from there, but luckily, Kingad arrested the situation when a cousin introduced him to the Chinese martial art of wushu.
The sport saved him, to say the least. “I needed discipline,” says Kingad. “Wushu pushes you to discipline yourself.”
His talent earned him a varsity slot in the University of Cordilleras, where he flourished and ruled the 2015 Regional Wushu Championship at age 19. It was also around that time when Kingad discovered MMA and got invited to join the famed Team Lakay.
Teeming with talents from the Cordillera region, Team Lakay fighters have dominated the sport since 2004. It boasts some of the country’s top contenders, including One Championship’s reigning world lightweight titleholder Eduard Folayang.
And it’s in this environment that drew the best out of Kingad. “Even though I’m just new to the game, I feel like I’m ready for all the high-level fights,” he says. “I know I’m young and just starting out, but the training I go through is really intense and I have some great mentors.”
Just two years in the sport, Kingad now stands as one of the country’s most promising MMA fighters. After winning his first two local bouts, the 5-foot-5 fighter got signed by one of Asia’s biggest promotions, the Singapore-based One Championship. He didn’t disappoint.
Nicknamed as “The King,” he made an impressive debut in 2016 with an easy ground-and-pound win over Malaysia’s Muhamad Haidar for his first career technical knockout (TKO). A submission victory came next versus compatriot Eugene Toquero, who is 15 years Kingad’s senior, but whom he surprisingly dominated right in the first round.
But as any fighter knows, a perfect record hardly guarantees anything. So Kingad isn’t about to let overconfidence get in the way. “I want to improve my wrestling and submission skills,” he says. “I want to be able to better submit guys on the ground, that’s what I’m working very hard on.”
The rising star was supposed to take on China’s Hexigetu in the undercard of One: Conquest of Kings on July 29 in Surabaya, Indonesia, but the event has been rescheduled due to logistical issues.
No date has been set yet as of this writing.
Although known as an excellent striker with solid grappling skills, Kingad expects Hexigetu to be a handful. “He’s never in a boring fight,” Kingad says of Hexigetu, a wushu sanda practitioner who holds a 4-2 record, three via submission. “He’s a really good, high-level striker.”
As Kingad’s regimen intensifies, so does his support. He trains twice a day and continues sparring even on weekends with veteran stable mates that include Folayang, former One featherweight world champion Honorio Banario and former bantamweight title challenger Kevin Belingon.
“I’m focused on my striking for this fight,” says Kingad. “That’s where I’m more comfortable.”
Come fight night, though, Kingad knows there’s a chance for things to get uncomfortable. “This is MMA,” he says. “I have to be prepared for anything.”
But Kingad hopes to stay calm, find ways to overcome, and even if things turn for the unexpected, he knows there’s always a perfect moment to strike.