Kingad overpowers foe in ‘Visions of Victory’
AFTER falling short in his bid to become a world champion last November, former flyweight title challenger Danny Kingad reinserted his name into the winner’s column, picking up a hardearned victory at the expense of Bulgarian martial artist Sotir Kichukov.
With an incredible display of strength, Kingad impressed with a high-level striking and grappling performance after three fierce back-and-forth rounds in the undercard of One Championship’s Visions of Victory in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Friday evening.
Kingad of Team Lakay, who enjoyed most of the bout uncorking his lashing hooks and scoring successful takedowns, wore down Kichukov with hard blows from dominant positions.
Despite Kingad’s menacing advances, Kichukov did not go down easily as he fished for submission both in the second and third rounds. However, Kingad powered himself out of Kichukov’s attempts and outlasted his opponent to earn the unani- mous decision.
In the main event, Reece McLaren turned in a spectacular performance by routing Malaysian hometown hero Gianni Subba, solidifying his position as a top contender in ONE Championship’s stacked flyweight division.
McLaren flaunted his fluid striking, repeatedly hammering Subba with stinging punches and lashing leg kicks. In the end, McLaren’s impeccable ground game secured the finish for “Lightning” as he forced Subba to wave the white flag with an arm triangle submission in the second round to win in a ONE flyweight world championship title eliminator.
In the co-main event of the evening, 22-year-old Agilan Thani authored another awe-inspiring performance, overwhelming newcomer Amitesh Chaubey with his thunderous slams and powerful groundand-pound.
The action began with strikes at the center of the ONE cage as Chaubey goaded Thani into a striking exchange. Once Thani was able to close the distance however, the Malaysian wrestler dumped Chaubey onto the mat and easily transitioned into full mount.
From top position, Thani blasted Chaubey with ground strikes to finish the round. The second round saw much of the same from Thani, but after another overhead slam that ended in side control, “Alligator” immediately sourced an Americana to force the tap.
With another spectacular performance, 19-year-old Christian Lee marched to victory once more, submitting Japanese veteran Kazunori Yokota with a deep guillotine choke in the second round.
Lee overwhelmed Yokota from start to finish, keeping his opponent on the defensive with his striking before taking matters to the ground.
On the mat, Lee continued to dominate, easily transitioning to full mount while punishing Yokota with hard blows. In the second round, Lee sunk in a guillotine choke, leaving Yokota with no other option but to tap. Roderick Osis