Balancing two combat sports can be a bit tricky, especially if you tend to make a career out of them both. The training routine is a challenging one, but it’s a risk Australian-Thai athlete “Mini T” Danial Williams is willing to take.
He wants to excel in both MMA and muay Thai inside the ONE Championship circle. Though he admits the training could be mentally exhausting at times, he prefers to look at the bigger picture – his evolution.
“Some of the advantages (of training multiple disciplines) is that it has helped me gain this hunger in MMA and muay Thai, and yeah, it’s just different. Not many people are doing it. I like to be a new breed of fighter, and that’s martial arts for me,” the 29-year-old said.
Williams’ next bout will be an MMA clash against Zelang Zhaxi at ONE 159 on Friday, and he’ll be ready to showcase that evolution.
Another victory for the Perth native would put him on a five-bout winning streak in the all-encompassing sport and could catapult him toward the top-five rankings of the strawweight MMA division.
And with the No. 5-ranked spot already secured in the same weight class in muay Thai, “Mini T” knows he is getting closer to achieving his world title dreams.
“My goal in ONE Championship is to obviously give the fans awesome fights, always fight for the knockout,” he said. “And of course, I want those strawweight titles, Muay Thai, kickboxing, MMA. I’m planning for all of them.”
It is easier said than done, though.
First, “Mini T” will have to lay out a plan that will allow him to reach the pinnacle at a rapid pace. Muay Thai is something he is more familiar with, but the all-encompassing sport is where Williams acknowledges he needs to place his focus.
“I’m definitely trying to find a way to appreciate it because it is a bit of a love-hate (thing),” Williams said. “It’s very confusing. It’s sometimes hard to motivate myself because I guess I am a striker at heart.”
Wrestling and Brazilian jiu-jitsu are some of his biggest pet peeves, but Williams understands it is something he needs to equip himself with as the top MMA strawweight fighters are blessed with immense talent on the canvas.
“I know to step out of my comfort zone and grow, especially in MMA,” Williams said. “I need to work on my ground, so sometimes, it’s quite motivating for me to go train it or I can make excuses in my head to miss training sometimes.”
“I’ve seen some of the badasses in the strawweight division. I think the top five guys are all great wrestlers, right? So, it’s something that is in the back of my mind that I do need to continue to work on.”
Thankfully for the Australian-Thai, he has a dedicated team of coaches who are always ready to transform him into one of the best in the business.
Williams sharpens his tools in “the art of eight limbs” at Kao Sok Muay Thai and works on his Brazilian jiu-jitsu, wrestling, and other aspects of MMA at Scrappy MMA, located just a short drive away from his home.
Together, it has helped him evolve into a better martial artist, and it has shown inside the ONE Championship circle.
In his promotional debut, Williams put up a good fight against ONE flyweight muay Thai world champion Rodtang “The Iron Man” Jitmuangon in April 2021.
Though he won a legion of fans with his performance, he switched to MMA and impressed with a pair of victories – first defeating former ONE strawweight world champion Dejdamrong Sor Amnuaysirichoke and then beating DEEP Champion Namiki Kawahara.
His next opponent, Zelang, might be a tougher test. But if he can succeed in his mission, the Australian-based fighter knows his aim to strike gold in the all-encompassing sport could be attainable in the near future.
