ONE Championship is gearing up for a new era in their promotion. At the end of April it was announced that the promotion had come to an agreement with Amazon Prime Video to be the exclusive home for live ONE Championship coverage in the US and Canada.
In August, the promotion will make their debut on Prime Video and they are bringing a banger of a main event. Ariel Helwani was the first to report this morning that the ONE flyweight champion Adriano Moraes (20-3) will defend his title against “Mighty Mouse” Demetrious Johnson (30-4-1).
This is a rematch from ONE Championship’s debut on TNT where Moraes knocked out Johnson in the second round. Moraes came to ONE from the regional circuit in Brazil where he started 9-0. Since making the jump to ONE, he’s gone an impressive 11-3.
Moraes became the interim champion back in 2016 and then became the undisputed flyweight champion in 2017. He lost his first title defense by split decision to Geje Eustaquio, but he immediately avenged that loss.
After that was his knockout of Mighty Mouse at ONE on TNT 1. Most recently, he defended his title against Yuya Wakamatsu and won by third round submission.
Might Mouse, ONE Champion?
For years, Demetrious Johnson held the top spot in the MMA pound-for-pound rankings. He ran the UFC’s flyweight division and defended his title successfully 11 times before falling to Henry Cejudo by split decision.
After that, it seemed like the logical thing was for the UFC to book the rematch. Johnson had a win over Cejudo and Cejudo had a win over Johnson. However, a shocking move was then announced when Johnson was essentially traded to ONE Championship for Ben Askren.
Mighty Mouse started strong in ONE with winning his first three fights. That’s what earned him a shot at Moraes and the flyweight title. However, Johnson suffered the knockout loss and hasn’t fought since.
Well, he did have a special rules bout with Rodtang Jitmuangnon and won by second round submission. However, this rematch with Moraes will be his first fight since the loss in traditional MMA.