Multi-sport star Danial Williams is gearing up for a busy 2023, and he already has one admirer – ONE Strawweight Kickboxing World Champion Jonathan Di Bella.
“Mini T” is ranked #5 in both the strawweight Muay Thai and MMA divisions and has his sights set on claiming an unprecedented three World Titles across those two disciplines, as well as kickboxing.
Di Bella for his part, claimed the strawweight kickboxing belt in October at ONE 162, in a classic back-and-forth war with Chinese prodigy Zhang Peimian.
Speaking to SCMP MMA, the Italian-Canadian named Williams as the one he’d like to face in his first title defence.
“I like that he comes to fight, he doesn’t come to play. That’s what I want. I want guys who come to fight,” he said.
“He has a great resume in kickboxing. He has more experience than me. He has a lot more experience than me in kickboxing and Muay Thai, and he’s been winning. I think he deserves a shot, for sure.”
Williams is a 32-fight veteran in Muay Thai and kickboxing, and made his ONE debut in spectacular fashion back in 2021.
Although he came up short against Thai megastar Rodtang Jitmuangnon at ONE ON TNT 1, Williams won the hearts of the ONE fanbase after a back-and-forth war against one of the biggest names on the roster.
The fight was later named the 2021 ONE Super Series Fight Of The Year by the Singapore-based promotion, and Di Bella thinks a match up between himself and Williams would be similarly enthralling.
“I don’t know if you saw his fight with Rodtang [Jitmuangnon] – it was fight of the year for 2021,” he said.
“Me and him will be Fight of the Year for 2023, for sure.”
After going 3-1 under MMA rules in 2022, Williams plans to head back to the striking arts this coming year.
Upon hearing of the callout from Di Bella, “Mini T” said he was willing and able to accept the match and claim the belt.
“I want to make history in this division. I’ve seen the title fight, I think the same thing. Confident, I’ve seen some holes in the game where I have my style that can match up to him [Jonathan Di Bella]. It’s possible. If they give me a kickboxing match next, that would be cool,” he said.
