Kingad stops Saputra's hot streak with unanimous decision win

February 25, 2023 - 1:00pm

Danny Kingad (in red shorts)

ONE Championship

MANILA, Philippines — Danny Kingad emerged vcitorious in his first fight back since December 2021 after a unanimous decision win over the erstwhile streaking Eko Roni Saputra at ONE Fight Night 7 at the New Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok on Saturday.

Kingad, who defended his spot at No. 3 in the ONE Flyweight Rankings, derailed Saputra's seven fight win streak where he also logged seven consecutive first round finishes.

The Team Lakay fighter started out strong as he whipped him to the canvas early on in the first round. He went on to attack with a body triangle locked in.

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Later on in the opener, both fighters took the fight on the feet but nothing serious lands clean.

Kingad made his case for the victory in the second round, where he was able to land some solid strikes.

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Having dragged Saputra to the longest fight of his career, the Indonesian had started to look fatigued.

At the end of the second round, Kingad landed a thudding head kick.

Come the third round, Saputra was eager to make up for Kingad's aggressiveness as he engaged in a back-and-forth.

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But Saputra's efforts came too late as all three judges ended up giving the decision win to Kingad.

Kingad patted himself on the back for his improved ground game against a seasoned wrestler like Saputra.

"Sa fight ko kay Eko, ayun, diba nag-clinch siya sa akin and tinatry niya ako i-take down... you know, itong larong ito ay MMA kailangan ko din 'yung mag take down and magcontrol sakanya," said Kingad after the fight.

"Napunta sa isipan ko na kaya ko pala siya i-take down kahit na wrestler siya," he added.

With the win, Kingad improves to 15-3 in his career while Saputra falls to 7-2.

In the main event of ONE Fight Night 7, Fabricio Andrade became the new ONE bantamweight world champion after John Lineker threw the towel before the start of the fifth round.

Meanwhile, Tawanchai PK.Saenchai made quick work of Jamal Yusupov via TKO after just 49 seconds of the opening round in the co-main event.

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