Their first fight ended in disaster for the former UFC champion and all-time great ‘Mighty Mouse’ when Moraes dropped Johnson with a short uppercut before finishing the fight with a grounded knee, legal under the ONE ruleset. It was not just the finish that was trouble for the legend Johnson though, as the height and length of the champion Moraes made it almost impossible for DJ to get close enough to do significant damage.

Revive el KO de Adriano Moraes sobre Demetrious Johnson, camino a su revancha este próximo 26 de agosto en #ONE161. @ONEChampionship pic.twitter.com/wux6MmSKff

— El Rocktagono (@elrocktagono) July 6, 2022

Coming into the rematch at ONE on Prime Video it was clear that Mighty Mouse had to make some serious adjustments if he was to have any hope of exacting his revenge. Meanwhile Moraes could likely do what he did previously: use his length fight at a long range and hold his high-level grappling ability in his back pocket if it was needed.

Johnson came out immediately trying to walk forward and push Moraes back but the champion’s offensive returns continually re-established a more equal balance of pressure. A feeling out process ensued until some showmanship entered into the fray from the challenger as he squatted and feigned a gun shooting motion, then stood back up with his hands behind his back.

Moraes made him pay, however, by catching a kick, shooting a takedown, and ending up in full guard. Johnson used butterfly guard at first to keep Moraes from passing initially but it was not long before the champ was in half guard, but then back in full. The exchanges were even. DJ hunted for an armbar but Moraes bailed out and avoided danger before settling back on top. Both men traded elbows — one notable elbow cut open the champion — and DJ kept an active guard, not letting Moraes settle at all in one position, though the Brazilian spent the last two seconds of the round in quarter mount. Although Moraes had a great round, he had earned a massive cut above his right eye from the aforementioned elbow for his trouble.

Early in round two Adriano Moraes countered a lazy low kick with a straight left that rocked DJ. The pair began to open up and a wild, 50/50 exchange soon followed. Next, a massive right question mark kick from Moraes bypassed the challenger’s guard and staggered him back to the fence. Moraes noticed, despite Johnson’s best efforts to hide it, and the ensuing flurry forced DJ to shoot a desperation takedown which only led to him getting sprawled on. The ensuing hard grounded knees to the head of the American made it seem like the fight would end similarly to the first one, but DJ partially defended himself and stayed conscious, though in severe danger. However, when Moraes switched to hunting a front choke, DJ took advantage to stand up, only to get taken back down off of a knee he threw in the clinch. A series reminiscent of the ground work from the first round followed. Moraes tried harder to pass the guard than he did to land strikes from top position. DJ’s guard remained as active as ever but the round ended with Adriano on top once again.

https://twitter.com/ClinchworkMMA/status/1563383756978733056

A blitz from DJ led to a collision early in round three and foreshadowed a committed attempt to pressure the champ much more in this round, which led to great success for Johnson. The feints of DJ set up singular punches and body kicks from range that damaged Moraes consistently. The Brazilian did not appear as comfortable on the back foot as on the front and as a result his offense had waned considerably. The rhythm of the legend started getting going beautifully and some of his strikes began to have clear effects, stunning Moraes. Demetrious Johnson’s patented creativity was on full display as he hand-fought his way into the clinch to turn over an elbow at one point. The whole time, Moraes still only went backwards, only managing to get on the front foot in the last ten seconds of the round. Although ONE MMA fights are scored as a whole, the fight would be clearly 29-28 to Moraes were it applicable.

Early in the penultimate round of the title bout, DJ crashed into the clinch but was able to avoid the takedown and escape even though Moraes had double underhooks. This was a sizable win considering the time he had spent on his back in the first two rounds.. Immediately after, he gained the front foot again but Moraes looked to clinch more often to smother the relentless forward pressure and lightning-fast strikes of the challenger. Unfortunately for him he was unable to mount much offense from the clinch. In fact, it was DJ getting the better of the damage in the clinch with short knees until Moraes separated.

Next, it was DJ’s turn to clinched up as he returned to the knees he had used just before. After the exit, Moraes threw a flying knee that pushed DJ off his feet, but the challenger got back up. The champion seemed to be unable or unwilling to spend energy on gaining top position on the ground, not pouncing on situations like that one, or catching kicks like he had in the first round. As DJ stalked his prey Moraes looked to counter more, trying to doing something about the pressure. However, it was his hands being away from his chin which led to him getting dropped badly by a straight right hand which was immediately followed by a walking forward knee as Moraes slumped against the fence, putting the champion out cold. ‘Mighty Mouse’ walked off for the highlight reel before the ref had even noticed that Moraes was unconscious. The tables had turned and now Mighty Mouse used his opponent’s technique against him, becoming the first fighter from the UFC to make the leap to ONE and win a belt.

Demetrious Johnson just KNOCKED OUT Adriano Moraes and is once again the ONE Flyweight Champion! 🏆https://t.co/BEsJOrTPMT

— Chamatkar Sandhu (@SandhuMMA) August 27, 2022

Johnson’s joyful nature was on full display after the fight. He did his signature victory celebration of a spinning, jumping kick followed by fist raised in the air, and when the belt was put on him he pretended it weighed too much, falling to the ground under its weight. Both men had now been finished by the other, in eerily similar ways. With ONE on Prime Video 1 completed, it is almost a given that a trilogy bout would follow in the near future.

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Nong-O, known as one of the best pound-for-pound nak muay of the current era, was coming off of a devastating uppercut win over Felipe Lobo, completing his sixth title defense in quick succession since winning the inaugural ONE Muay Thai bantamweight title in 2019.

Title Defense #6! ✅

Nong-O catches Felipe Lobo with a flush uppercut and continues his reign as the most dominant Champion in the promotion.@ONEChampionship | #ONEX pic.twitter.com/2S5CdjnNO3

— Beyond Kickboxing (@Beyond_Kick) March 26, 2022

Liam Harrison, for his part, was coming off of his own knockout over the well-respected former Lumpinee Stadium champion Muangthai, which earned him a staggering $100,000 bonus from the promotion due to the fight being one of the most entertaining single round bouts in the promotion’s history. Harrison got dropped two times in quick succession to start the fight but came back with three straight knockdowns of his own to take home the victory and earn this title shot.

At thirty-five and thirty-six years of age, respectively, Nong-O and Harrison are two truly remarkable and unique examples of longevity in a sport that does not generally reward sticking around for so long. Most nak muay are fighting from a very young age in small shows in Thailand and rack up hundreds of bouts by the time they are in their mid-twenties, around which time they usually pass their prime. Nong-O, for example, has three-hundred and twenty-six bouts, but its not uncommon for someone ten years younger than him to have about as many, as seen in the record of fellow ONE champion Rodtang Jitmuangnon, who has just six less fights at age twenty-five. As a side note, Liam Harrison has a paltry one-hundred and sixteen fights under his belt, which is a bit more common among farangs.

The bout started with Nong-O working his leg kicks and jab clinically. As a fighter who builds into fights as they go it could be expected that he would not come out like a firebrand, which is usually Liam Harrison’s methodology, although for his part the challenger was being more careful here against such a tough test. However, the champion landed an big right hand early that got Liam’s attention. Soon he followed it up with a low leg kick that buckled the leg of his foe and left him visibly weakened. Another perfect leg kick followed in short order, sending the Brit to the floor and causing a ten-count. Harrison howled in pain and shook his head at one point, causing the referee called it off. The power and placement of the kicks, all right on the knee of ‘The Hitman,’ did an extraordinary amount of damage in such a short time, even relative to the the high standards of Thai leg kicks.

https://twitter.com/elcucxy/status/1563374864597401601

Liam Harrison was able to walk out of the cage with all watchers surely hoping he would have no long-term damage. Regardless, this was the lucky number seventh title defense for the legend Nong-O, his fourth knockout in a row, and he did it in less than a third of the time of any of his other knockouts in ONE Championship. It was a quick night at the office and he received a $50,000 bonus for his efficient efforts.

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Almeida, 3-0 in MMA to start the night (plus a Smaug-sized mountain of grappling gold medals), was paired up with Kirill Grishenko as part of the main card on Amazon Prime Video.

Grishenko, for his part, entered the fight off the first loss of his career, in an interim title bout with Anatoly Malykhin.

As decorated on the ground as he was, Almeida threw a couple of early strikes, with one falling just short of tagging Grishenko. But moments later, the Brazilian took the fight into his wheelhouse, and into a realm where Grishenko would have no escape, and no answer. Practically dragging his opponent to the mat, Almeida trapped a leg and soon had a heel hook in place.

Grishenko tried to roll through it and scramble out, but found no relief and was soon frantically tapping. With the win, Buchecha improved to 4-0, with all four of those wins coming inside the distance.

The Brazilian then opened up in his post-fight interview, saying the last three weeks had been the hardest of his life after losing one of his best friends, Leandro Lo, a fellow BJJ competitor shot by an off-duty policeman during an argument. “I was training and crying every single day. I don’t know how I did it,” Almeida stated.

Almeida also earned a $50,000 performance bonus for the win.

Official Result: Marcus Almeida def. Kirill Grishenko by submission (heel hook), Round 1, 1:04

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Last fall, the then-undefeated fighter was forced to pull out of the atomweight grand prix due to illness, losing her chance to secure a title shot against Angela Lee. When she did return to action this past March, Hirata suffered her first defeat as a professional, dropping a split decision to Jihin Radzuan.

On Friday night at ONE on Prime Video 1 in Singapore, Hirata looked to put all that behind her against China’s Lin Heqin. It was Heqin, however, who connected first, with one sharp leg kick, then another. A couple of kicks later, Heqin landed a right hand; that connection seemed to wake Hirata up and get the Japanese fighter moving a little more.

About two minutes into the opening round, Hirata would take the fight down — but was unable to keep it there, with Heqin immediately scrambling up. Back on the feet, Heqin landed a string of jabs that was finally answered by an overhand right from Hirata. Another takedown attempt was initially fought off by Heqin late in the round, but after landing a number of knees to the thigh, Hirata finished the round by putting Heqin on the mat.

Round two saw Heqin go back to her leg kicks, but Hirata had changed her approach, using more lateral movement. The Japanese fighter still struggled to find her entries and get the fight to the ground, however. Hirata’s lead leg was showing some color, as the leg kicks of Heqin were clearly adding up. Hirata would latch on to a submission at the end of the round, a kimura, with Heqin escaping the round as time ran out — but heading to the third, there was a decent chance that Hirata needed a finish to win the fight.

In the third, the damage to Hirata’s legs continued to hamper her. When the pair came together along the fence, Heqin was initially able to keep things standing. But Hirata would eventually land a throw, with a chance to make something happen — only for Heqin to scramble back up. And then, some late drama. Hirata rocked Heqin with a punch, and the Chinese atomweight went down! Hirata pounced on top, landing plenty of ground n’ pound, but ref Herb Dean let things go, and for the second straight round, Lin Heqin was saved by the bell.

That, however, changed the complexion of the fight. With ONE Championship judges scoring fights as a whole, two near-finishes were enough to give Hirata the nod.

After the win, Hirata called for a rematch with the only woman to defeat her, Radzuan.

Official Result: Itsuki Hirata def. Lin Heqin by unanimous decision

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Atop the card, former UFC great Demetrious Johnson had another shot at flyweight gold, and a chance for revenge against the man who defeated “Mighty Mouse” in shocking fashion last year, Adriano Moraes.

Moraes had finished Johnson care of knees while the former UFC champ had been grounded — an illegal technique in North America, but perfectly legal under the ONE Championship rule set. Since that meeting, Johnson had picked up a win over striking sensation Rodtang in a special rules fight, while Moraes had defended his title successfully against Yuya Wakamatsu.

Also on the ONE on Prime Video card, the semifinal round of the promotion’s flyweight Muay Thai world grand prix. However, with superstar Rodtang out of his fight, Panpayak Jitmuangnon stepped up against Savvas Michael with a shot at making the finals on the line.

The co-main event also featured Muay Thai action, with bantamweight champ Nong-O Gaiyanghadao facing the United Kingdom’s Kiam harrison.

ONE on Prime Video kicks off at 8PM ET on Amazon Prime Video in North America, with the main card getting underway at 10PM. Full results from the event can be found below.

ONE on Prime Video: Moraes vs. Johnson II Results

Main Card

Demetrious Johnson def. Adriano Moraes (c) by knockout (right hand and knee), Round 4, 3:50 – for the ONE flyweight world championship
Nong-O Gaiyanghadao (c) def. Liam Harrison by TKO, Round 1, 2:10 – for the ONE bantamweight Muay Thai championship
Panpayak Jitmuangnon def. Savvas Michael by KO, Round 2, 0:10 – flyweight Muay Thai grand prix semifinal
Marcus Almeida def. Kirill Grishenko by submission (heel hook), Round 1, 1:04
Amir Aliakbari def. Mauro Cerilli by TKO, Round 2, 4:02

Lead Card

Superlek Kiatmoo9 def. Walter Goncalves by knockout, Round 1, 1:35 – flyweight Muay Thai grand prix semifinal
Diandra Martin def. Amber Kitchen by unanimous decision – Muay Thai
Itsuki Hirata def. Lin Heqin by unanimous decision
Zebaztian Kadestam def. Iuri Lapicus by knockout (uppercut), Round 1, 0:57

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“I’ve acknowledged I’m one of the best flyweights to ever walk this planet Earth. Yeah, 1000%, I’ll say it,” Johnson told reporters during a media scrum at the ONE on Prime Video open workouts this week.

“As far as the Greatest of All Time, with Jon Jones, Khabib [Nurmagomedov], all those guys, I’ll leave that to the community,” Johnson added. “But there hasn’t been a flyweight out there who’s done what I’ve done, and who imposes his will or his game. I truly believe that. The stats speak for themselves, even over in America and here.”

Johnson is back in Singapore to prepare for a rematch with Adriano Moraes, who shocked the world by defeating Johnson in the pair’s first meeting last year. Since then, Johnson picked up a win in a special rules bout against Muay Thai legend Rodtang, and will now get another crack at ONE Championship gold.

Ahead of the fight, Johnson has said that he’s focused more on BJJ these days. Clarifying those comments, “Mighty Mouse” explained that “Getting ready for a fight gets redundant and gets monotonous, especially when you’re fighting the same person again, right? There’s only so much content that you can watch of that person and study. So for me, I found an amazing grappling gym by my house, Professor Yan, GRPL Club.”

With the opportunity to hone his jiu-jitsu skills in front of him, Johnson said that he began substituting some of his other training for grappling. “I started doing more grappling than going to the gym and lifting weights and doing cardio. Because I never got tired in my fights. So instead of like, ‘okay lets go to the gym and push our heart rate to 185 beats a minute, Monday morning, Tuesday morning, and Friday morning,’ I’d be like ‘okay why don’t we just substitute that with Brazilian jiu-jitsu?'”

As Johnson went on to point out, “it’s more practical to what I do in mixed martial arts.”

Despite predicting a knockout in the past, and the outcome of the pair’s first fight, Johnson sees no animosity in the rematch. That’s normal for the Washington-based fighter, who explained that he always has other things to focus on, from family to t-shirt designs to live streaming on Twitch.

“I’m showing up, fighting, going out there and giving it my all, and then after that, move on to the next one.”

Watch the full ONE on Prime Video open workout scrum with Demetrious Johnson above.

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Starting with ONE on Prime Video 1: Moraes vs. Johnson II on August 26, 2022, ONE Championship will run one event per month on the streamer. Each event will air during U.S. Prime Time. As announced in a press release on Thursday, the schedule breaks down as follows:

• August 26 – 9:00 p.m. EDT – ONE on Prime Video 1: Moraes vs. Johnson II
• September 30 – 9:00 p.m. EDT – TBD
• October 21 – 9:00 p.m. EDT – TBD
• November 18 – 9:00 p.m. EDT – TBD
• December 2 – 9:00 p.m. EDT – TBD

“We are incredibly excited to kick off our new relationship with Prime Video on August 26 and announce the full 2022 event schedule! The first time that Adriano Moraes and Demetrious Johnson met inside The Circle, no fans were allowed in the arena due to COVID-19. This time, the fight will be in a packed arena with millions watching around the world, and there could not be a better way to launch our U.S. prime-time events,” said ONE chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong, quoted in Thursday’s press release. “We know that ONE brings an incredible and unique experience for fight fans; something completely different from what American audiences have seen before. We are excited to celebrate the wide range of martial arts disciplines and showcase the world’s best competitors on Prime Video.”

The Prime Video series marks ONE Championship’s second attempt at drawing eyes among western MMA fans. Last year, the promotion ran on cable network TNT, with its ONE on TNT series running across four events, to mixed results. While the production values reflected the usual high standards fans have come to expect from ONE, bout cancellations and odd finishes (Eddie Alvarez losing via DQ, which was later overturned) didn’t help matters.

ONE will hope to see better results on Prime Video, which boasts over 200 million subscribers worldwide. It’s estimated that roughly 100 million users reside in North America, where ONE on Prime Video will air.

In the meantime, ONE Championship returns to action this Friday, with ONE 159 going down in Singapore.

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