Danial Williams thrilled for ONE Championship’s revamp of Muay Thai with ONE Lumpinee

No. 5 ranked ONE strawweight contender Danial Williams fully supports innovation in mixed martial arts.

ONE Championship, of course, is indeed a pioneer when it comes to pushing combat sports into the future.

The largest martial arts organization will usher in the new year with a bang by beginning its weekly events at the legendary Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.

Muay Thai's mecca will host ONE Lumpinee 1 on January 20 headlined by Nong-O Gaiyanghadao’s bantamweight Muay Thai world title defense against Alaverdi Ramazanov.

Hosting weekly fights is a daunting task for sure, but ONE is eager to take on the challenge to further promote Muay Thai to the rest of the world.

In an interview with ONE Championship, ‘Mini-T’, who’s half Thai, said he appreciated the promotion’s initiative to shake things up and make Muay Thai more accessible on the global stage.

“Since there’s more opportunity for purses, I think it’s good at just revolutionizing the sport. Anyone who doesn’t see that is stuck in their ways a little bit. The sport will never evolve," said Danial Williams.

Williams, who competed in mixed martial arts and Muay Thai bouts inside the circle, further said:

“It’s always good to see something new in Muay Thai so we get to a lot more skilled and entertaining fighters out there. More people will probably get more behind it. I think it’s good what’s happening. Something needs to change in the sport.”

After falling short in his ONE debut under Muay Thai rules back in 2021, Williams shifted his focus to MMA and has gone 3-1 so far.

Despite his success, the 29-year-old admits he still has unfinished business in the striking-only matches and wishes to return to where it all began sometime this year.

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Danial Williams lauds ONE for giving the spotlight to fighters in the lower weight classes

Apart from its mission to showcase all aspects of martial arts, another reason for ONE Championship’s massive success is its focus on putting the spotlight on fighters from the lower weight classes.

Danial Williams, who competes in the strawweight division, is grateful for the opportunity to consistently fight on a grand stage.

He shared in the same interview:

“They [ONE] put more effort into the promotion. They give us good fights, we’re active. There’s always a strawweight or a flyweight on the card, compared to some other promotions.”

Danial Williams also lauded the promotion’s impressive roster of talent in the lower weight classes since the level of competition pushes them to become the best version of themselves. He added:

“We started in Asia, and Asia is shorter in general, so I guess there’s a lot of competition over here in those divisions. When the guys make this promotion, they’ve had to run through a lot of competition.”