ONE Championship: Danial Williams ‘motivated’ by Jarred Brooks as he climbs strawweight ranks – ‘he’s got a brutal style’

Danial Williams’ MMA career is off to a great start, but the Australian strawweight recognises he still has a lot of room to grow.

The 28-year-old Muay Thai specialist, who has only been competing in MMA since 2018, was back in action on the main card of the ONE Championship 156 event last Friday in Singapore, taking on former Deep strawweight champion Namiki Kawahara of Japan. He struggled with his foe’s grappling, but had enough success on the feet – including a first-round knockdown – to earn a unanimous decision victory.

Williams (5-1) is happy with his win, but is also taking the fight as a reminder of how much he still has to learn.

“Initially – I’m my own worst critic – I was kind of p***** off how I fought,” he told the Post. “I felt like I had him in trouble a couple of times and I should have capitalised on certain moments, but that all comes with experience, and you can only do better next time.

“It’s great to get the win. My ground game’s improved a little bit, [I was] defending stuff. But man, still a lot of work to do.”

Williams has become hyperaware of the improvements he needs to make in the grappling department as he has become acquainted with ONE’s top strawweights. He’s particularly impressed by American wrestler Jarred Brooks, who became the division’s No 1 contender with a first-round submission win over Bokang Masunyane at ONE 156.

“You look at the top-5 now, and they’re absolute beasts on the ground,” he said. “You’ve got [Yosuke] Saruta, obviously Bokang. Jarred Brooks, he’s the man at the moment. He’s the guy who’s going to really test the division. It’s going to be hard to be on his level with his wrestling.”