Danny Kingad faces Gurdarshan Mangat at ONE 164 in Manila

ONE Championship’s Manila return is slowly shaping up with Danny Kingad taking on rising flyweight contender Gurdarshan Mangat.

Kingad, the No.4-ranked flyweight contender, will look to improve on his rankings when he faces Mangat at ONE 164: Pacio vs. Brooks on December 3 at Mall of Asia Arena.

Joshua Pacio, Kingad’s teammate at Team Lakay, will headline ONE 164 when he defends the ONE strawweight world title against no.1 contender Jarred Brooks.

A former ONE flyweight world title challenger, Kingad is considered one of the most technical fighters in the promotion. Kingad, despite coming from a wushu background, is a master of grinding his opponents down with his grappling.

Kingad used his grind-out style to put on one of the best winning streaks in the flyweight division when he racked up a six-fight winning streak from 2018 to 2019.

‘The King’ also had a three-round chess match against the legendary Demetrious Johnson in the final of the ONE Flyweight World Grand Prix. Although he was able to match up against ‘Mighty Mouse’, Danny Kingad eventually lost the match to the now ONE flyweight world champion.

Mangat, though, is no pushover.

The Indian star has won four fights in ONE Championship including his last two matches against Roshan Mainam and Yodkaikaew Fairtex.

Mangat is a quintessential martial artist and has no problems adjusting to any style during fights. The 35-year-old is comfortable either grappling with his opponents or throwing his hands at them

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Danny Kingad could renew his rivalry with Reece McLaren

Danny Kingad has faced the absolute best in ONE Championship, and one of the fighters he’s always had a lingering rivalry with is Reece McLaren, the no.5-ranked flyweight contender.

The two fighters had a barnburner back in August 2019 during the semifinals of the ONE Flyweight World Grand Prix. It was as close as any tightly contested match but it was Kingad who took the split division win in front of his home country’s fans in Manila.

More than three years on and McLaren hasn’t forgotten about that loss.

McLaren is fresh off a knockout win over Windson Ramos at ONE 162 this past weekend. The win was the Australian’s ninth in the promotion, and the first man he challenged was his old rival Danny Kingad.

In his post-fight interview with Mitch Chilson, McLaren said:

“I’ve got to move up surely I’ve been fighting, for now, how long since the rankings have come up, I’ve stayed at five. I’d love to run it back with all these guys above me. But now like I said the last time I’m looking up at the mountains. Danny, come on brother."