Is Demetrious Johnson coming into Adriano Moraes rematch better prepared?

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Demetrious Johnson (L) and Adriano Moraes (R) [ Photo Credit: ONE Championship ]

Pound-for-pound great Demetrious Johnson is readying himself for one of the biggest fights of his storied career. On August 26 in the main event of ONE on Prime Video 1, ‘Mighty Mouse’ will once again meet ONE flyweight world champion Adriano Moraes with the gold on the line.

ONE Championship shared a clip of the former UFC champion training ahead of the massive rematch on Instagram with the caption:

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“Technique is 🔑 Witness the ONE Flyweight World Title rematch between Demetrious Johnson and Adriano Moraes on August 26 at ONE on Prime Video 1! 🏆 @mighty”

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Following his heartbreaking loss to Moraes in their first pairing at ONE on TNT 1 in April 2021, Johnson is ready to return better than ever to avenge his first career knockout loss and capture another world title for his collection. Speaking to ONE Championship, 'Mighty Mouse' discussed what has changed since his last clash with Moraes.

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“The approach in this camp, I was like, ‘You know what, I’m not going to worry about my strength and conditioning because I never get tired.’ I still go to the gym, but that’s only for one day a week. I’m grappling four or five times a week now, and that’s an hour-and-a-half to two hours. And then after that, I’ll go do mixed martial arts for two hours. So now I’ll put in more hours into training mixed martial arts than I was in my previous fights.”

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Demetrious Johnson is ready to prove he can beat Adriano Moraes

Demetrious Johnson will step back into the circle under fairly rare circumstances for his career. He will return after suffering a loss for only the second time in more than a decade. However, it appears that the setback has awakened something in ‘Mighty Mouse’.

Even though his legacy is cemented at this point, the former world champion has something to prove when he steps inside the circle for a second meeting with ‘Mikinho’:

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“For me, my challenge is I haven’t beat him yet, so I have a challenge in front of me... I have to go prove I can beat this man.”

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That hunger to prove to himself will make the challenger more dangerous than ever. It’s impossible to predict how the epic rematch will go, but it certainly looks as though Johnson is heading into the bout in the best possible mental shape of his career.

Watch Demetrious Johnson's ONE Championship highlights below:

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