Reigning ONE flyweight champion Adriano Moraes posted an image to his Instagram story flashing back to his main event bout with Kosuke Suzuki at ONE FC 17: Era of Champions.
Emanating from the Mata Elang International Stadium in Jakarta, Indonesia, Moraes earned a victory in the evening's main event by defeating Suzuki via a third-round arm-triangle choke. The win guaranteed Moraes an opportunity to become ONE's first flyweight champion. He would go on to defeat Geje Eustaquio, becoming the promotion's first flyweight mixed martial arts champion.
Commemorating that night, Adriano Moraes posted an image from the fight on his Instagram story with the following caption:
"I'm still here doing main event #5rounds."
Following the win over Suzuki, Moraes returned to the cage just three months later to face Eustaquio to crown a new flyweight champion. At ONE FC: Rise of the Kingdom in Cambodia, Moraes scored a second-round guillotine choke submission to make history.
Moraes would defend the title once before dropping it to division rival Kairat Akhmetov in a closely contested split decision. Less than two years later, Moraes would get another shot at Akhmetov. Moraes regained his championship with a unanimous decision win.
A little over a year removed from the start of his second reign, Moraes once again met Geje Eustaquio in a title match. History once again repeated himself as Moraes dropped the title in another closely contested split decision. Six months later, Moraes righted that wrong and regained his title, beginning a historic third reign as the flyweight champion of the world.
Watch the third Moraes-Eustaquio bout in the video below:
Adriano Moraes' third reign as ONE's flyweight champion is his best yet
Since regaining his title in January 2019, Moraes has arguably had his best reign thus far. He made waves at ONE on TNT 1 in 2021 when he faced longtime UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson. Moraes set the MMA community ablaze when he knocked out 'Mighty Mouse' in the second round with a brutal knee that landed flush on Johnson's chin. Moraes became the first person to ever knock out Johnson.
He followed that up with a masterful performance against Yuya Wakamatsu at ONE X in March. Moraes put his opponent away with a third-round guillotine. After back-to-back finishes, Moraes will step back into the ONE Circle when the promotion debuts on Amazon Prime in August.
Adriano Moraes will once again defend his title for the third time (in his current reign) against Demetrious Johnson. After his loss to Moraes, Johnson got back into the win column by defeating Muay Thai icon Rodtang at ONE X in a mixed rules bout. He will now look to even the series and capture ONE Championship gold in the promotion's big Amazon Prime premiere.