“His strength and power are his advantages” - Geje Eustaquio makes his pick for Danny Kingad vs. Kairat Akhmetov at ONE: Winter Warriors II

Ahead of the upcoming ONE: Winter Warriors II event on December 17, former ONE flyweight world champion Geje ‘Gravity’ Eustaquio took time to share his thoughts on the main event between Danny Kingad and Kairat Akhmetov.

‘Gravity’ offered an interesting insight on both fighters. He shares a stable with ‘The King’ at Team Lakay, while he has split his two meetings with ‘The Kazakh'. The 32-year-old revealed that Danny Kingad has improved his skills and physical attributes.

“I believe Danny's main advantage here is his athleticism. I think that's where Danny will really move ahead. Aside from being younger and fresher, his strength and power are his advantages over Akhmetov.” He added, “I believe he's added a lot of things to his arsenal and because of that, he's more confident to execute game plans now."

However, Eustaquio knows that Akhmetov has the tools to stand toe-to-toe with Danny Kingad. The 34-year-old is also a former world champion who was forced to relinquish his title due to injuries.

He has since recovered to win his last three fights, with the only losses in his career so far coming from the only two to hold the same world title, Eustaquio and current world champion Adriano Moraes.

“Having faced him [Akhmetov] twice already, he has a different kind of confidence when he steps into the Circle and I think that's one advantage of his. When he's really composed, he can really execute and get things his way. That's what I noticed particularly in our first fight.”

Eustaquio thinks that Akhmetov’s ability to control the pace of the action and Danny Kingad’s ability to execute the game plan will be their keys to victory. However, he has no doubt about the outcome of the match.

"I believe this is going to be a war. They will stand toe-to-toe in striking and on the ground. I'm taking Danny by unanimous decision."

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Danny Kingad aims to protect his place in the rankings

Danny Kingad took Demetrious Johnson to the distance in the finals of the ONE Flyweight World Grand Prix, but ultimately fell to the MMA legend. He quickly bounced back from that loss by stopping a five-match win streak for ONE Hero Series China contract winner Xie Wei.

However, his position at the top of the flyweight division will again be challenged by the streaking Akhmetov. ‘The Kazakh’ currently sits as the No.4-ranked fighter in the division and winning against the Filipino could shake up the rankings significantly.