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Following his disappointing loss to Adriano Moraes, Demetrious Johnson knew that he would have to work his way back up the ladder again before he contended for the ONE flyweight world title.
What he got instead was a near-instant rematch against Moraes in the main event of ONE on Prime Video 1: Moraes vs. Johnson II on August 26, US primetime, at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.
In an interview with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour, Johnson admitted that he felt he’d have to win a few mixed martial arts bouts before he got to take another crack at Moraes.
Johnson added that although he fought and beat ONE flyweight Muay Thai world champion Rodtang Jitmuangnon in a mixed-rules bout at ONE X, his second chance at flyweight gold would take a little bit more time.
He felt that former ONE flyweight world champion Kairat Akhmetov and Yuya Wakamatsu, who did end up challenging Moraes for the belt at ONE X, deserved to be world title contenders.
Demetrious Johnson said:
“I knew it would happen if I made my way back up the ladder again because I figured after I lost to him, there were other guys in the division. Yuya Wakamatsu, Kairat Akhmetov, those two guys were kind of on a winning streak. And you know me, I’m always, I’m by the code. It’s like you lose, take your a*s back down the ladder, work your way back up, and get the other guys the opportunities to fight for the belt. After I lost to Adriano, that was in my mind.”
He added:
“But then they [ONE Championship] came to me with the super-fight with Rodtang. I was like ‘Sure I’d do it’ and then I thought after I fight Rodtang I was gonna go back down the ladder and work my way back up to the title shot… They were like, ‘Nope we’re gonna give you the title shot, you want anything? Nope?’ Sounds good.”
Watch Demetrious Johnson's entire interview below:
Demetrious Johnson says Adriano Moraes’ size was a tough hurdle for him
In a previous interview with ONE Championship, Demetrious Johnson said Moraes’ mere size was a challenge all in itself. Moraes stands at 5-foot-8, five inches taller than Johnson, and this made closing the distance an arduous approach.
Moraes, however, isn’t just tall. ‘Mikinho’ is a shifty fighter and uses the whole circle to his advantage. Johnson added:
“I think the biggest thing is Adriano is just much bigger, longer. So that's the biggest problem, which is just crossing the distance… It’s no [secret] he likes to use his movement to catch [opponents] – how he caught me last time. So this time, I have to pull myself back. I train for eight to 10 weeks – I ain’t got time to play these games. I just want to get in there and fight. I’m just going to take my time and see where it goes.”
