ONE: Danny Kingad unaffected by change of foe as he looks to stretch streak

Danny Kingad scores unanimous decision win. Photo from ONE Championship

MANILA, Philippines—Danny Kingad has been a tear in ONE Championship’s flyweight division going on a five-fight winning streak across two years and he has no plans of stopping when he faces Reece McLaren.

The two martial artists will lock horns in the ONE Flyweight World Grand Prix, which is part of the stacked ONE: Dawn of Heroes card on August 2 at Mall of Asia Arena.

Kingad, whose five straight wins were via decisions, has been searching for that stoppage but he knows that won’t come easy against McLaren despite the Australian’s sudden inclusion into the card.

“Whether it be by knockout, submission or decision, my target is to win,” said Kingad.

McLaren was a replacement fighter in the card after former flyweight champion Kairat Akhmetov withdrew from the bout due to injury.

Nonetheless, Kingad is confident that his preparation for Akhmetov won’t change for McLaren.

Both McLaren and Akhmetov are grappling experts who prefer to put the bout to the canvas.

“I don’t think there’s much difference in training. It’s pretty much the same, they’re good wrestlers and in jiu-jitsu,” said Kingad. “The game plan is to strike and defend the ground well.”

“I’ll try to keep the fight standing, there are little changes I made in my game plan.”

Kingad also feels that he has the advantage since he’s fought in the flyweight division for almost the entirety of his career while McLaren moved down a weight class from bantamweight.

“He was strong in bantamweight, but I feel like when he moved to flyweight I have the upper hand now,” said Kingad. “That’s my advantage over him. In case the match goes to the ground, I have something to show for, something he won’t expect.”