Multi-sport star Danial Williams is hoping to find his groove once again in ONE Championship, and it starts in the MMA ranks.
On Friday, February 16, “Mini T” is set to take on fellow hard-hitter Lito Adiwang in a strawweight bout at ONE Fight Night 19: Haggerty vs. Lobo inside the iconic Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.
Danial Williams talks about his losses in 2023
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Williams is one of few athletes who have maximized their opportunity to compete across the spectrum of sports in the world’s largest martial arts organization. Along with the all-encompassing sport of MMA, the Thai-Aussie brawler has squared off in Muay Thai and kickboxing contests in his short tenure in the promotion.
But after a pair of disappointing defeats in kickboxing last year, Williams concluded that it would be best for him to focus on one sport.
“Something that I’ve learned over the last year when I did kickboxing was just staying in your own lane. The ego gets the better of you. You have a few wins, and you think, ‘I can do every sport I’m training.’ But the kickboxing skills are the ones which I’m lacking a little bit. So, I definitely would like to stay in one sport for a while,” Williams told ONE in a recent interview.
“MMA has always been my end goal. I’ve stopped at the highest level of Muay Thai to do MMA. I know I’ve got to spend time on that because it’s been a bit mad trying to get the skills over the last two and a bit years, when I’ve been jumping between sports. I definitely feel like I’m at a level where I just need to keep improving in MMA.”
Shifting his focus to MMA may be a good idea for the 30-year-old, as he has a 6-2 overall record. Last year, Williams suffered back-to-back losses against two of the best kickboxers on the planet today. First, he took a late-notice opportunity to challenge Superlek Kiatmoo9 for the ONE Flyweight Kickboxing World Title at ONE Fight Night 8 in March. That bout went three intense rounds before the divisional king scored a devastating knockout.
Seven months later, “Mini T” took on ONE Strawweight Kickboxing World Champion Jonathan Di Bella at ONE Fight Night 15. He went all five rounds with the Canadian-Italian star but lost out via unanimous decision.
“Mini T” on going back to MMA in 2024
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Those setbacks allowed Williams to re-evaluate where he wanted to go in ONE Championship, and he chose to put his efforts into improving his craft in MMA.
“After the Jonathan Di Bella fight, I went to my first wrestling class, and I just shake my head, man. I’m like, ‘I’ve had eight pro fights in MMA, and I haven’t consistently spent a good chunk of time in the wrestling department. I’ve always done a bit of BJJ and Muay Thai. The wrestling is just chaining it all together and getting that cardio, so I would like to spend a lot more time in the wrestling department the next couple of years,” said Williams.
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Given that Danial Williams was unable to secure wins in 2023, how do you expect the year 2024 to play out for the Australian? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
