MMA News: Danny Kingad Remains Upbeat Despite Crushing Defeat To Kairat Akhmetov

Danny Kingad was in high spirits despite his defeat to Kairat Akhmetov at ONE: Winter Warriors II.

The Team Lakay standout was very complimentary of Akhmetov’s wrestling prowess, noting that it seemed as if the Kazakh was born to be a wrestler and he believes that the fight has a major learning experience for him.

“I learned a lot from fighting him, especially things that I could start learning about as soon as possible. I’ll go home first then I’ll review the match. What I really want to improve on is my takedown defense – how to defend against wrestlers and how to counter it with a takedown. What I really want to adopt from him is his techniques, how he does it, and how he works on his strength to take me down repeatedly,” Kingad told the media via virtual press conference.

Thirty seconds into the opening round, Akhmetov imposed his will on Kingad, took him down to the ground with ease, and kept him there for the majority of the round.

Akhmetov fired some shots to deter Kingad from trying to escape.

Kingad found his footing in the second round, keeping the fight standing up for a little while as Akhmetov allowed himself some room to recover before bringing “The King” again to the mat with a solid double-leg takedown.

The Filipino noted during the media call that Akhmetov was breathing extremely heavily by the third round after using up so much energy to keep his advantage on the ground.

With full knowledge that the fight was securely in the bag, Akhmetov took some risks in the final minutes in allowing Kingad to let the fight play out on the feet, but the 26-year-old Filipino was unable to mount any meaningful offense.

Prior to facing "The Kazakh," Kingad’s last fight was in January 2020. He denied all notions of ring rust being a factor in this fight when asked about the long layoff.

The loss has pushed Kingad down to rank No. 3 in the flyweight division after holding the second spot for a long time, but he takes it all in stride as he prepares for his next challenge in the future.

“I really believe that God gave me this fight in order for me to realize that I need to improve more so that I can be worthy of fighting for the title. That fight really forced me to evaluate what I’ve learned so far and what other things I have to improve on,” Kingad said.