Perhaps the busiest athlete on the ONE Championship roster in 2022 was 'Mini T' Danial Williams, who fought four times in the year.
The Australian competed in his first MMA match for the promotion in February, plunging straight into deep waters with experienced Muay Thai veteran Dejdamrong Sor Amnuaysirichoke.
The fight quickly escalated into a firefight, with both fighters throwing every kind of strike for every minute the fight lasted, leaping tomahawk elbows included.
ONE Championship has uploaded the fight in its entirety to its YouTube channel, highlighting one of the best moments of the hard-hitting Australian’s year.
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Check out the full fight below:
The first round of the fight saw Dejdamrong leading the dance, controlling the range with knees and body kicks. While the Muay Thai striker was able to use a trip to briefly get Danial Williams to the floor, it was Williams who was later able to catch a kick from Dejdamrong and complete a takedown.
Punches from the top in half guard opened a cut on the bridge of Dejdamrong's nose. The Thai legend was able to scramble back to his feet, and the rest of the round saw the two pulverize each other from the clinch position with knees and elbows.
In Round 2, Danial Williams was able to begin finding spaces to insert potent combinations and blasted Dejdamrong with a straight right hand to the body. The exhausted Thai fighter grimaced and fell to the floor, with the stoppage coming at 1:35 of the second round.
Danial Williams went 3-1 in 2022, following up his win over Dejdamrong with victories over Namiki Kawahara and Zelang Zhaxi. Despite falling to Jeremy Miado in October, Danial Williams is 6-2 overall and has already built a strong resume in ONE Championship.
Danial Williams aiming for two ONE Championship belts in 2023
After proving his mettle in Muay Thai as well as MMA, Danial Willams is setting his sights on gold in multiple sports under the ONE Championship banner in the near future.
In an interview with ONE Championship, Williams expressed his desire to compete in Muay Thai again at some point to get back in the world title picture:
“I definitely want the [ONE strawweight] Muay Thai [world title] belt. I feel that’s mine for the taking this year. In a perfect world, it would be a Muay Thai world title fight, then a champion-versus-champion fight with kickboxing, and then the Miado rematch. That would be the ultimate 2023.”
If Danial Williams wants to conquer two belts and avenge a loss in MMA, he has to get busy. He currently doesn’t have a fight publicly scheduled for 2023. However, with his comments on fighting in Muay Thai, it will be interesting to see not only who he’ll fight, but also which sport he will compete in.