Demetrious Johnson knew he was going to see Adriano Moraes sooner or later after knocking him out in their rematch, but he didn’t expect an immediate booking of a third matchup.
Both Johnson (31-4-1) and Moraes (20-4) last fought against each other in August, when “Mighty Mouse” avenged a previous knockout loss to Moraes while also taking the ONE Championship flyweight title. Now fast forward a little over eight months, Johnson and Moraes will meet again in the main event of ONE Fight Night 10 this Friday in Broomfield, Colo., the promotion’s first event to be held in the U.S.
Johnson expected to be in this position, just not at this very moment.
“I got mine. I gave him his,” Johnson told MMA Junkie Radio when asked about his rivalry with Moraes. “I knew I was going to see him in the future but didn’t think it would be this quick. I figured they would probably give somebody else the opportunity to fight for the belt, but hey, here we are now.”
Either way, Johnson is not upset. He has a ton of respect for Moraes and thinks he’s a worthy adversary.
“Adriano is a great guy, a great opponent, an amazing former world champion,” Johnson said. “I knew I was going to see him again, especially (because) he’s been the longest reigning flyweight champion in ONE Championship. But he’s lost and won it, lost it and won it. It’s been very tricky. It’s kind of interesting.
“If you look back at my UFC career, it’s like, it goes Demetrious Johnson, then Henry Cejudo, then it jumps around. When you look at Adriano’s tenure, his reign, I think he lost it to Kairat (Akhmetov) or Kairat won it. Then they had an interim and Kairat had it. Then he got it, then Geje Eustaquio got it. Then they had their thing. Then it went back to him, and now it’s me who has it. So it’s not a very long, consistent (reign).”
