"I call it zombie" - Demetrious Johnson explains key strategy against Adriano Moraes
Newly-crowned ONE flyweight world champion Demetrious Johnson had one hell of a fight at ONE on Prime Video 1. After suffering the first knockout loss of his career over a year prior, 'Mighty Mouse' exacted revenge in the same manner on former flyweight champion Adriano Moraes.
As dominant as the finish was, however, the fight itself was not entirely squeaky clean. Johnson had to overcome a significant size and grappling disadvantage, employing a stick-and-move strategy on the feet.
Moraes easily caught up with this strategy and put 'DJ' on the mat. However, Johnson kept busy with strikes from the bottom, even opening a cut over Moraes' eyebrow. In the third round, 'Mighty Mouse' upped the intensity of his attacks and eventually slowed down the former champion.
In the fourth round, Demetrious Johnson finished the fight with the now-famous running knee strike. Speaking to renowned MMA journalist Ariel Helwani, 'DJ' explained his strategy coming into the fight:
"It’s a theme we worked on a lot in training camp, which was how I kinda looked at it, like zombie just walking towards, you know, just covering distance. And in the gym I’ll get lit up like, this is probably the hardest training camp I had when it comes to the strict being disciplined towards a game plan. And I call it zombie."
Watch the full interview here:
Demetrious Johnson explains what his "zombie" fight strategy means
In the same interview with Helwani, Demetrious Johnson further expounded on the aforementioned "zombie" strategy:
"I go forward, I don’t care what he throws, I’m gonna eat it, I don’t give a damn. I just don’t care. In order to get this done, I just called zombie. Because there’s those times in the gym where I’ll spar around, I’ll be moving, being fast, elusive, and I will get hit zero times. And then I’m like ‘I’m gonna be a zombie, I’m gonna be training my eyes and my body to weather that storm and take the shots and eat it and keep pushing through, so I made it a zombie."
Considering how he was knocked out by Moraes in their previous fight, employing this kind of strategy might sound risky to a casual observer. It's better to avoid getting hit rather than choosing to toughen up to take shots. Not for 'DJ', though.
Only the best of the best fighters can understand that it might have been necessary for Johnson to get himself more familiar with getting hit hard. He's just extremely good at not getting hit. Yes, technique, speed and timing are paramount in fighting. But sometimes, intangibles like heart, toughness and courage are just as important when the situation calls for it. Demetrious Johnson is a modern-day mixed martial arts genius.