Christian Lee believes Adriano Moraes will keep his world title

Christian Lee was in awe when Adriano Moraes handed Demetrious Johnson the only knockout loss of his storied MMA career back in ONE on TNT 1 last year.

‘Mighty Mouse’ now gets his chance to avenge that brutal defeat as he challenges ‘Mikinho’ once more for the ONE flyweight world championship this Friday. The pair will headline the historic ONE on Prime Video 1: Moraes vs. Johnson II.

Lee is actually in the same boat as Johnson. He will also look to exact revenge in a rematch of his own against OK Rae Yoon in the main event of ONE 160.

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Although he shares similar paths with DJ at the moment, the former ONE lightweight world champion believes that Adriano Moraes will beat the American icon for a second time.

Lee made it clear that Moraes’ superior physical advantages may just be too much to overcome for the world title challenger. He told ONE:

"I definitely think that DJ is going to come in with a different game plan, a different strategy. He’s absolutely, I believe, going to play it more safely... But Adriano has got a great skill set, and I feel that it’s just a stylistically bad matchup for DJ. He’s got great striking and great jiu-jitsu, so I think that Adriano is going to keep his belt.”

Adriano Moraes laid out the blueprint on how to beat DJ

Adriano Moraes was in control of his first fight with Demetrious Johnson, even before he connected on that surprising flash knockout in the second round.

DJ might have been the more experienced fighter, but it was ‘Mikinho’ who expertly stuck to his well-crafted game plan and ran circles around one of the best pound-for-pound fighters on the planet.

Moraes utilized his long frame to keep Johnson at bay for most of the fight. When the opportunity presented itself, the three-time ONE flyweight world champion delivered the killing blow – a clean knee to the head that shut DJ’s lights out for good.

As Christian Lee noted, Johnson is an intelligent fighter who will no doubt have a different approach this time around. DJ could focus on his elite wrestling and try to take the champion down.

Then again, that comes with its own risk. Moraes is a wizard on the ground and has an array of submissions in his back pocket. Johnson prides himself on never getting submitted in his career. Well, he also never got knocked out before up until his first fight with Moraes.