Undefeated prospect Danny Kingad returns to action to face battle-tested veteran Eugene Toquero, in an all Filipino flyweight contest at ONE: AGE OF DOMINATION. The action takes place on Friday Night, 2 December, at the Mall Of Asia Arena in Manila, Philippines.

Kingad, who is coming off a phenomenal promotional debut, plans to have a successful follow-up performance. This time around, however, he is looking to further utilize his mental attributes.

“My game plan for this fight is not just to use physical techniques, but also to use mind tactics,” the 21-year-old Team Lakay standout reveals. “This is MMA and anything may happen. We have our own skills to market, and for sure, this is going to be a very exciting fight.”

In Toquero, he fights a battle-tested countryman. The Manila native is a Muay Thai specialist who holds an 8-3 record, with seven of those victories coming by way of TKO. Most recently, the 35-year-old suffered a heartbreaking first-round submission loss to now-Interim ONE Flyweight World Champion Adriano Moraes at ONE: UNION OF WARRIORS back in March, and a victory would go a long way to a potential rematch.

Kingad, however, has youth on his side and feels a victory will put him at the top of the heap. 

“If I pick up the win over Toquero, I will be one step closer to being a contender for the ONE Flyweight belt.” Kingad says. “I am looking forward to it and I am ready.”

A graduate of the University of the Cordilleras, Kingad naturally made his name as a wushu specialist. He even won the 2015 Regional Wushu Championship. Still, the allure of mixed martial arts was too commanding and he put his focus into his training over the past few years.

From the moment he stepped into the cage for his amateur debut, he absolutely knew he was destined for this sport. 

“I think my favorite fight from my MMA career is my first MMA amateur fight.” Kingad says. “That was the time that I realized that I really want to be in this field, and that I have to do everything to improve and reach my dream following the footsteps of my seniors in Team Lakay.”

Kingad is a member of the famed Team Lakay, the top fight team in the Philippines. Led by Coach Mark Sangiao, the gym is full of wushu warriors and feels more like a family than an actual team. The experience of working with so many great fighters in one room is vital. Counting those people as family is invaluable.

“For me, our team is not just a team, but a family in which everyone helps each other and learns together in MMA and other aspects of life. The physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects of life,” he explains. “I am so happy, lucky, and blessed that I have them in my everyday training.

“The gym right now is so busy preparing for our respective fights, and I can sense the determination and focus inside the gym. It makes me even more inspired and motivated.”

That determination shows, as it has carried over into his professional career. Kingad earned a pair of successful unanimous decisions in his first two bouts in 2014 and 2015, then signed with ONE and made a statement by delivering a first-round TKO to Malaysia’s Muhamad Haidar at ONE: GLOBAL RIVALS this past April.

Coming into this contest at a perfect 3-0, the Team Lakay flyweight feels the added pressure of keeping that unblemished record intact. That pressure can be felt every time he steps into the cage, but he is not happy with simply picking up the victory. He would much rather win in style. This intense determination plays into his game plan, mindset, and actions inside the cage.

“Being an undefeated fighter, maintaining my record, is one of the goals in preparation for my future,” he says. “I take it as a challenge in every fight not just to win, but to do the best that I can to win impressively.”

Kingad will have the chance to impress at ONE: AGE OF DOMINATION and step closer to the top of the flyweight heap, but he will have to get past a tough veteran in Toquero to get there. 

Rajinder Singh “Knockout” Meena may have slipped in his ONE Championship debut, but now he has an opportunity to redeem himself against one of the best fighters in Asia.

The New Dehli, India, native will clash with former ONE Featherweight World Champion Honorio “The Rock” Banario in a lightweight showdown at ONE: AGE OF DOMINATION. The event takes place live on Friday Night, 2 December, at the Mall Of Asia Arena in Manila, Philippines.

“He is former featherweight champion and one of the best fighters. He will be a good opponent to fight,” the 30-year-old Indian says. “I will hope for the best.”

Banario, a cornerstone of the Team Lakay camp, is a wushu and BJJ specialist who holds a 10-6 record. Formerly the organization’s featherweight title holder, “The Rock” re-created himself as a lightweight earlier this year and has won two straight since moving up a division.

Although the Filipino has a wealth of experience, so does Meena. In fact, he is bringing a lifetime of experience with him to the cage.

The Crosstrain Fight Club product strapped up his first pair of boxing gloves as a child after seeing his older brother excel in the martial arts. 

“I started my martial arts career with boxing during my childhood,” he says. “My brother was an international judo player, so my interest grew from that.”

He fell in love with the sweet science, but his interests in all things combat did not stop there. Despite fighting under the moniker “Knockout,” the Indian pugilist diversified his training long before training multiple disciplines was a requirement for MMA success.

“I started my boxing career in 1999, and participated in various state and national competitions,” he continued. “Later on, I started kickboxing, then went from kickboxing to wushu.”

Meena excelled at all of the aforementioned disciplines. He is a six-time Indian National Wushu Champion, a two-time Indian National Kickboxing Champion, and a multi-time boxing medalist. In 2009, he put all his skills together and made the jump to professional MMA.

That August, he made his official debut and lived up to his nickname by knocking out Ajay Godajkar. 

“I felt proud when I won for first time,” he recalls. “The victory encouraged me to do my best in the future.”

Even though he spent two and a half years away from the sport, Meena returned with a vengeance in November 2011. After knocking out Dheeraj Walendra, he displayed his submission prowess and rattled off four consecutive guillotine choke victories, the last of which snared him the Super Fight League Lightweight Title.

Meena seemed unstoppable, but less than a year later, he tasted his first defeat as a professional courtesy of a second-round kimura and lost the belt. The loss exposed some holes in Meena’s game, which he quickly patched up. 

He rebounded from the loss with a pair of quick, decisive victories, but it proved to be bittersweet. After the SFL shuttered its operations in India in 2014, ONE came calling and signed the promising star.

The New Dehli resident finally hit the big time and he knew it. He made his promotional debut in March 2015 at ONE: AGE OF CHAMPIONS in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, against the hometown hero Peter Davis.

Between being in enemy territory and under the bright lights, the nerves may have gotten the best of him, as he suffered a first round TKO loss. 

“That was my first experience in MMA at the international level,” he says. “I was a bit nervous due to the crowd. They were cheering for my opponent.”

Now, with the butterflies gone, Meena will attempt to bounce back and improve upon his 8-2 record when he meets Banario at ONE: AGE OF DOMINATION this coming Friday Night. 

While he admits there is a little bit of pressure, especially considering he will re-enter enemy territory, he feels refreshed from his recent layoff and is ready to thrill the masses.

“My fans can expect a better fight. They can watch me in a new style and be more energetic,” he says, before adding, “the best way to finish a fight is with a knockout.”

If Meena has his way, he will finally show ONE exactly why he is called “Knockout.”

Xie Bin may still be a young lion, but he is constantly growing and cultivating his talent.

On Friday Night, 2 December, the Chinese bantamweight prospect will attempt to snap his two-fight losing skid when he battles Mario Satya Wirawran at the Mall Of Asia Arena in Manila, Philippines.

The 18-year-old ground specialist does not plan to just win, however. He plans to finish the Bali MMA product as quickly as possible, all while displaying his vastly-improved skill set.

“As a fighter, we always have something to prove — first to ourselves, then to our opponents, and then to the world. However, it has to be in that order. If Mario goes out there trying to make me his victim, he will be victimized,” Xie states.

“I will not allow the judges any chance to dictate my record this time around,” he continues. “I will end the fight early in any form or fashion. I will also showcase my evolution as a mixed martial artist.”

Though Xie always possessed immense talent, his lack of discipline seemed to cost him in the past. In reality, it limited his potential and dwarfed his development.

His newfound passion for the martial arts and a promising opportunity with ONE Championship has kicked his motivation into high gear, and has allowed him to concentrate on achieving his primary objectives.

“I’ve also started to realize my limits, how much room for improvement there is, and how much still needs to be accomplished both in life and inside the cage,” he says. “Humility has kept me grounded. Before MMA, I had no goal in life. Now, I do.”

Born in Shaoyang, a city in China’s Hunan province, Xie’s parents relocated south to the Guangdong province in search of better careers. They left their son to be raised by his grandmother, his uncle, and his aunt. He was close to his grandma and loved his family dearly, but not being able to live with his parental figures affected him.

Aside from isolating himself, Xie lacked discipline, as he rarely studied and received poor grades in school. He also had a mischievous tendency. For instance, he often snuck onto a local farmer’s property and got caught picking fruit from the trees, yet continued this pattern of behavior without a care in the world.

In an effort to curb his mischievous behavior and instill a sense of responsibility, his parents enrolled him into the Hunan Sports Vocational Academy when he was 11. A neighbor entered the school, too, and introduced the young boy to wrestling. Xie was hooked, and finally found an outlet.

Despite his love for grappling, he was maturing and thinking about life as a post-graduate. He was not planning to become an Olympic wrestler. In fact, he recalls that he wanted to be a businessman.

That changed when he saw an MMA video online years later. It was the first time he ever saw mixed martial arts, and he fell in love with the sport instantly. 

“After watching the clip,” he says, “I realized fighting is what I want to do in life. I wanted to be a fighter.”

Xie left the confines of Hunan, the only place he had ever known, in October 2015 and traveled north to the coastal city of Tianjin to train with Tianjin Top Team. Although he was attracted to the idea of adding skills to his wrestling base, he was allured to the fight gym because an old friend. A certain ONE featherweight prospect was advancing his career there.

“I went to the same school with Li Kai Wen, who is three years older than me, and he had a couple MMA fights under him, so I contacted him. At the time, he was already training at Tianjin Top Team,” he recalls.

“Prior to going there, I was strictly a wrestler who had no other skills. After joining, I started learning how to punch and kick from the basics. I do believe that I am on the way to becoming a more complete fighter.”

Not only has his punching and kicking improved, but he developed a formidable submission game. Working under Luciano Queiroz, a disciple of Edson Carvalho, he holds a blue belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and it has been a seamless transition into the gentle art.

“Because of my wrestling background, it was very natural for me to gravitate towards BJJ, which involves groundwork and grappling,” Xie offers. “It is like they both speak Chinese, just in different dialects.”

Nine months after arriving at Tianjin Top Team, Xie made his MMA debut as part of a one-night tournament at ONE: DYNASTY OF CHAMPIONS in Hefei, China. He defeated Ma Shuang via split decision, but dropped the next contest to Wang Ya Wong via unanimous decision.  A month and a half later, he took his third bout against Casey Suire, which he lost by split decision.

Xie has back-to-back losses heading into his fight with Mario Satya Wirawran, and he knows he has to give his very best this time around. His back is against the wall, especially since he is a young prospect in ONE, and he wants to make the most of this opportunity. He feels the pressure, but he usually thrives in those type of situations.

“Pressure actually equates to motivation for me,” the young man says. “If I do not compare myself with other 18-year-olds out in society, the life I lead right now is all normal to me because it is my life. 

“I made the decision to pursue MMA, and fighting in the premier MMA promotion in Asia at 18 is something that I regard as an honor that pushes me to train hard and to achieve my maximum potential.”