Danny “The King” Kingad is a perfect role model for anyone who dreams to one day make it big in ONE Championship.
But Kingad, who’s now a picture of hard work and discipline, was once a troubled young kid who had no direction in life.
That was until his older brother, Dante, came in.
“I was abroad back then,” Dante said. “When I came back here to the Philippines I noticed my brother didn’t have good company.”
“He had no discipline. He lacked ambition. He just wanted to be with his friends.”
That’s when Dante introduced Danny to martial arts and the Team Lakay stalwart’s life changed drastically.
The older Kingad was practicing Malayan Kung Fu – a traditional local take on kung fu – before transitioning to kickboxing later on.
Introducing his brother to martial arts turned out to be one of the best decisions of his life, as Danny’s life started to change for the better.
“I introduced Danny to kickboxing because I saw his potential. He was interested. He seldom went out anymore after joining the gym. He developed a new routine, school – gym – school,” the older Kingad said.
“I can say that Danny enjoyed martial arts because he left his past life behind, he turned his back on vices.”
Now, the 23-year old Baguio City native is enjoying a successful run in the largest martial arts organization in the world.
Bannering Team Lakay, Kingad is now one of the hottest athletes in the flyweight division as he’s now knee-deep in the prestigious ONE Flyweight World Grand Prix.
Kingad will be taking on Reece “Lightning” McLaren in the semi-finals of the aforementioned tournament at ONE: DAWN OF HEROES on 2 August at the Mall of Asia Arena, inManila, Philippines.
His older brother could not be any prouder of Danny.
“I am thankful to martial arts because of what it did to my brother. He used to be with his friends all the time. He used be all over the city. He even skipped school. But when martial arts came along, he went straight.”
