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ONE Championship knew that its first event on American soil would be a pivotal moment in its history.
It was imperative for the promotion to put on a good showing in front of the American audience and put on a good showing it did.
Not only did ONE Fight Night 10: Johnson vs. Moraes III on Prime Video deliver, ONE Championship swung it out of the ballpark.
The stacked card was the perfect showcase for ONE Championship’s exciting brand of martial arts, and it was also the exact show that would introduce the promotion to an even broader audience.
From the way it was packaged to the fights themselves, ONE Fight Night 10 was the embodiment of ONE Championship’s vision for martial arts.
With North American fans getting to replay the entire card for free on Prime Video, we look back at why ONE Fight Night 10 was the perfect US debut for ONE Championship.
#3. Incredible pageantry and production
While other martial arts promotions have done away with elaborate entrances that practically stripped away its fighters’ personalities, ONE Championship does the opposite.
Every single one of the 22 athletes who fought on the card had their own walkout vignettes and ceremonies ranging from the simple to the exquisite.
Though some fighters were content on bopping to their entrance songs (shout out to Jackie Buntan’s walkout to Lauryn Hill’s Doo Top), there were a couple who truly let out their personalities.
ONE flyweight Muay Thai world champion Rodtang Jitmuangnon had the Denver crowd dancing to his entrance while Stamp Fairtex practically blew the roof off the sold-out 1stBank Center.
Stamp, a former ONE atomweight Muay Thai and kickboxing world champion, introduced the live audience to the “Stamp Dance” as she grooved to New Jeans’ smash hit “OMG”.
Apart from the individuality the fighters’ displayed, ONE Championship also made sure that the stadium was going to be lit quite literally.
The fighter introductions for the main card were littered with pyrotechnics while world champions Mikey Musumeci, Rodtang, and Demetrious Johnson had fireworks to accompany their walkouts.
#2. So many finishes
ONE Championship has always prided itself on having the most exciting fights of any martial arts promotion, and ONE Fight Night 10 perfectly encapsulated that reputation.
Of the 11 total bouts in the card, there were seven finishes including six straight in the main card.
Jackie Buntan practically set off the firestorm when she knocked out Diandra Martin in the first round of their Muay Thai bout.
Burmese legend Aung La N Sang then submitted Fan Rong in the third bout of the main card with a sublime guillotine choke in the second round of their middleweight match.
From that moment on, the card became a martial arts fan’s fever dream.
Sage Northcutt submitted Ahmed Mujtaba with a heel hook less than a minute into their lightweight contest while Zebaztian Kadestam pulled off a miraculous comeback to knock out Roberto Soldic in the second round of their welterweight confrontation.
Stamp Fairtex then had the Denver fateful screaming when she folded Alyse Anderson with a sickening kick to the body in the second round of their atomweight contest.
Mikey Musumeci then retained his ONE flyweight submission grappling world title when he forced Osamah Almarwai to tap to his rear-naked choke.
Not to be outdone by those who went ahead of him, Rodtang plastered Edgar Tabares in the second round to defend his ONE flyweight Muay Thai world title.
#1. Demetrious Johnson cementing GOAT legacy
The debate for who really is the greatest mixed martial artist of all time has been going on for around a decade now with most of the contenders in the conversation already enjoying retirement.
One such name, though, is still active and that is the legendary Demetrious Johnson.
‘Mighty Mouse’ is the reigning ONE flyweight world champion and he more than cemented his claims to GOAT status when he closed his rivalry with Adriano Moraes at ONE Fight Night 10.
After two iconic matches, which both ended in either fighter going to sleep, Moraes and Johnson headed into their trilogy bout at ONE Fight Night 10.
While most fans expected that there would be another show-stopper between the two rivals, the pair had one clinical contest that practically played into Johnson’s hands.
Johnson was at his best in front of the American fans and had a masterful plan of attack against Moraes.
The flyweight king was an unsolvable puzzle and he used his unmatched fight IQ to subdue Moraes to get the dominant unanimous decision win.
Even though Johnson’s reputation atop the MMA world is practically intact, his victory over Moraes added another feather to his already historic cap.
