Danny Kingad says Yuya Wakamatsu can take the flyweight MMA gold by “either a knockout or a decision” against Adriano Moraes

Danny Kingad is putting all his chips on his old rival Yuya Wakamatsu ahead of the latter's world title opportunity in Japan.

Wakamatsu will face off against Adriano Moraes for the vacant ONE flyweight MMA world title at the stacked ONE 172: Takeru vs. Rodtang card on March 23 at the historic Saitama Super Arena.

In an exclusive interview with Sportskeeda MMA, Kingad said Wakamatsu's striking advantage would be the key to subduing Moraes and his grappling-heavy offensive style.

Danny Kingad added that he expects Wakamatsu to take the vacant throne via knockout or through the judges' scorecards.

"If Yuya wins, it’ll be either a knockout or a decision. This will go for five rounds, so it’s possible that Yuya will get the knockout if this thing doesn’t go to a decision."

Kingad is highly familiar with Wakamatsu and Moraes, having fought both fighters twice in his ONE Championship tenure.

Wakamatsu and Kingad are split even at 1-1 in their head-to-head matches, while Moraes is a dominant 2-0 against the former world title contender.

A natural striker, Wakamatsu owns an impressive eight wins in his ONE Championship tenure, with three knockout finishes.

Wakamatsu unleashed his brute force against former ONE flyweight MMA world champion Geje Eustaquio, Kim Kyu Sung, and Xie Wei to collect his knockout wins in ONE Championship.

'Little Piranha' is also on a strong run of form with three straight wins over Xie, Kingad, and Gilbert Nakatani heading into ONE 172.

Moraes, meanwhile, has been synonymous with the flyweight MMA division in ONE Championship.

The Brazilian superstar is a multi-time ONE flyweight MMA world champion, with 12 wins in the promotion, including eight submissions and one knockout.

Tickets for ONE 172 are available at EPlus, and the entire card will be streamed live at watch.onefc.com.

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Danny Kingad expects a show-stealer from Adriano Moraes and Yuya Wakamatsu at ONE 172

Danny Kingad is no stranger to Yuya Wakamatsu and Adriano Moraes' collective firepower, and he expects the two stars to steal the whole show at ONE 172.

In the same interview with Sportskeeda MMA, Kingad said:

"Both fighters can really deliver the excitement inside the cage. We’ll see how they’ll execute their backgrounds of either striking or jiu-jitsu. They’ll find the holes in each other’s game plans come ONE 172."