Demetrious Johnson Wants To Test One Of Asia’s Best In Danny Kingad

Demetrious Johnson is one of the greatest mixed martial artists of all time. For many fans from all around the world, the 12-time Flyweight World Champion, is the G.O.A.T..

Since Johnson signed with ONE Championship, he’s been busy in the ONE Flyweight Grand Prix, which commenced last March. ‘D.J.’ won his first two matches in the quarter-finals and semi-finals of the tournament, booking his ticket to the finals this October 13. Where he will face Filipino star Danny Kingad, at ONE Century.

“I believe this bout is very important – obviously this is the Flyweight World Grand Prix Final. At the end of this, there’s a sweet belt that I want to add to my collection and a shot at the ONE Flyweight World Champion, Adriano Moraes,” Johnson told ONE Championship.

Despite being dubbed as one of the best, ‘Mighty Mouse’ wants to see how he will go against one of Asia’s top athletes, “I’m very excited to face Danny Kingad. He’s only got one loss in his whole entire career, and that’s against Moraes, so he’s definitely legit. Now I’m ready to go out there and see how I fare against one of the best in Asia.”

With the recent number of athletes being forced to pull out their Flyweight and Lightweight Grand Prix matches due to injuries, Demetrious is grateful about his current status – being able to compete in every single one of his scheduled fight.

“The athlete who wins the Grand Prix isn’t necessarily the best fighter, it can be who’s most durable and can stay injury-free. I’m grateful and blessed that I’m able to make it to the next round healthy and ready to go.”

The American superstar not only has that all around martial arts skillset, but he also has the great high IQ, as he identifies Kingad’s strengths and possibly pounding on his weakness.

“The Team Lakay guys are very tough and very athletic, especially Danny, and he is a wushu champion. He has great scrambles, and he is able to get off his back when he shouldn’t be able to. But of course, everybody has weaknesses. We have to see if I can exploit those weaknesses when we lock horns – that’s where we’re going to find out.”

Johnson also has a person in his camp that holds a possible key to breaking down the formula of the Filipino’s fighting style and coincidentally, they will both be in action at the biggest martial arts event ever.

“I know a lot about Team Lakay. My teammate Bibiano Fernandes has been fighting that team since the day he jumped into ONE Championship. They have a great team up there, but I know they have some holes in their game.”

The former pound-for-pound king vows to use every ounce of his rich experience from his storied career to showcase the very best out of him against his up-and-coming opponent.

“I’ve been in this game a lot longer than [Kingad] has, I fought a lot of great people that are just grapplers, and also my competition has been the best of the best. I’m a different athlete than Danny, so we’re going to see what happens when we fight. I’m hoping to go out there and show off my best performance.”

ONE: Century goes down on October 13th, at the Ryogoku Kokugikan, in Tokyo, Japan.


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