🚨 BREAKING NEWS 🚨 Reigning king Adriano
Moraes and MMA GOAT Demetrious Johnson run it back for the ONE
Flyweight World Title at ONE 161! @adrianomkmoraes
@MightyMouse#ONE161
| August 27 pic.twitter.com/GALrs8WQh7— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship)
June 3, 2022
One Championship is putting its best foot
forward for its debut on the Amazon streaming service.
On Friday,
Ariel Helwani first broke the news that the first One event on
Amazon Prime will take place on Aug. 26, locally on Aug. 27. The
event, titled One
161, will be held inside the Singapore Indoor Stadium like all
other recent One cards, but it will air live for U.S.-based
audiences. As subsequently announced
by One, the headliner will come in a rematch at 135 pounds, when
Adriano
Moraes (20-3) puts his belt on the line against Demetrious
Johnson (30-4-1). No other bouts have yet been announced.
Since becoming the first fighter to finish the man known as “Mighty
Mouse” – Moraes flattened Johnson with a knee at One on TNT 1 in
2021 – Moraes rattled off one additional title defense against
Yuya
Wakamatsu in March. The only three career losses for “Mikinho”
have come by split decision, and he has avenged the last two, with
a pair of unanimous decisions over Kairat
Akhmetov and Geje
Eustaquio in 2017 and 2019, respectively. The three-time One
flyweight (135 pounds) champ has successfully defended his belt
twice on this current run, giving him the longest reign of any
champ in divisional history.
Ultimate Fighting Championship legend Johnson
has seen mixed results since coming to the promotion in a
cross-organizational trade between the UFC and One for Ben Askren in
2018. While he won his first three fights against Wakamatsu,
Tatsumitsu
Wada and Danny
Kingad, he has struggled with the opposition as he now competes
at 135 pounds instead of the flyweight category in which he reigned
in the UFC. When facing Moraes for the strap, Johnson succumbed to
a knee in a match he appeared significantly outsized. Since then,
Johnson’s only fight came in a mixed rules match with Rodtang
Jitmuangnon, and he tapped out the muay Thai star in the second
round when under MMA rules. “Mighty Mouse” still holds the UFC
record for the most consecutive championship defenses with 11, with
a tally that will not likely be broken any time soon.