Danial Williams flew to Singapore for a strawweight Muay Thai match against Rui Botelho on the ONE Fight Night 8 card, this Friday, March 24. But shortly after arriving, “Mini T” found himself in a position to challenge Superlek Kiatmoo9 for the ONE Flyweight Kickboxing World Championship in the evening’s main event.
Although it came as a surprise, Williams dreamt of the opportunity in the lead-up to the event.
“I just joked about it. And then literally, I got the message. I got a message, ‘Hey Dan’ [from ONE Championship], and all I wanted to respond with was ‘Hey, Superlek?’ It’s weird, man, that I manifested it. It’s just really strange,” Williams said.
Even though he is relishing the golden opportunity, the Aussie-Thai star knows the deck is stacked against him. He will enter the Circle as a pronounced underdog, given he will be taking on the world’s best flyweight kickboxer.
But for Williams, that takes the stress away from the occasion and puts it all on the shoulders of the defending champion.
“I think that the pressure’s on him, man, I’ll be honest. I’m the strawweight guy, I’ve got nothing to lose. He’s got to put on a show. He’s got to make sure he gets the win. He’s the favorite, so I feel like that’s my advantage. For me, that just gives me massive confidence, because I’m just not stressed about it,” said “Mini T.”
“Obviously, it’s not going to be an easy task. He’s a beast, and he’s very strong, even for his weight division, you know? He’s probably the strongest one there. It’s a bit of a ‘YOLO’ moment, but I can’t wait.”
Williams has shown his ability to compete in the flyweight division. In his ONE debut, Williams battled Rodtang in a flyweight Muay Thai barnburner that put him on the map as one of the most exciting strikers in the promotion. That encounter with “The Iron Man” is fueling Williams’ confidence ahead of ONE Fight Night 8.
The 29-year-old has a good read on what makes Superlek so good inside the Circle. Breaking down film of the champion has shown him areas of caution and where he can find success. From that research, Williams predicts that his speed and movement will be critical for outlasting the Thai king.
“Just everything on his right side, just a real heavy right kick. He’s obviously “The Kicking Machine,” so just really heavy right kicks. He’s an arm breaker and rib breaker, you know? He keeps kicking to the one spot and smashing your legs, then the next minute he’s throwing it up to the head because you’re dropping your guard down,” He said.
“I’ve seen some of his other fights, like when he fought [Ilias] Ennahachi, Ennahachi was pretty good with his movement to stay away from Superlek’s right power side. So, I’ll be looking to the same and I just feel like I can change up my movement a lot so he can’t really set his feet too much and drive forward.”
“With a couple of my coaches here, we’ll just work some different combos, just to drill. We’ve got four or five sessions before the match, then we’ll just drill different combos. I’ll be honest, I’ve been working a lot elbows this camp, that was a big game plan for my original opponent [Rui Botelho] was lots of elbows down the middle because he’s very wide. So now, luckily we’re not doing elbows with Superlek.”
With the World Title tilt just days away, “Mini T” is feeling a new wave of self-assurance wash over him. He is completely confident in his skills and free from any burden of expectation that may weigh him down.
As Williams says it, he believes his manifestation of the events will lead him to the title.
“I’m just a dude that’s getting this opportunity now, you don’t get these shots every day. So, I’m just going to make sure I put on a really brilliant show and just show that I am a true martial artist with no fear,” he said.
“I just want to show how hard I’ve been working for this and I don’t want to let it slip away now. This is life changing for me, so I’m going to put on the best performance I can possibly give.”
ONE Fight Night 8: Superlek vs. Rodtang airs live on Prime Video at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on Friday, March 24. The event is free for all U.S. and Canadian Amazon Prime subscribers.