“I was always going to be behind him” – Demetrious Johnson examines his mistakes in KO loss to Adriano Moraes
ONE Championship fans will be well aware by now that Demetrious Johnson is one of the very best fighters to have ever competed in MMA.
Since arriving in the promotion, ‘Mighty Mouse’ has produced a stellar run that has led to him holding the ONE flyweight MMA world championship today.
One opponent has defined his time inside the Circle with his trilogy against Adriano Moraes is sure to go down in the history books.
What some fans might not know about Johnson is that his elite level fight IQ and experience makes him a great analyst when it comes to breaking down fights.
The flyweight MMA world champion is often found dissecting fights and techniques piece by piece on his YouTube channel.
In one of his latest videos, he turned his attention to the one and only knockout loss of his entire career which occurred in his first meeting with Moraes at ONE on TNT 1.
On that occasion, the ONE flyweight world champion at the time was able to keep hold of his belt by stopping the Johnson in jaw-dropping fashion.
Distance management was the theme of the video as Demetrious Johnson spoke about his biggest difficulties in facing the Brazilian for the first time inside the Circle:
“Closing the distance was the hardest thing about that this fight, trying to get there, and I'm trying to get there. But once again each time I cross the void Adriano goes ‘Nuh-uh homeboy, I'm going lateral this way or this way.’”
“And that forces me to change my direction to go that way so I was always going to be behind him. I'm always behind trying to get to him so that's the hardest thing and that's what made Adriano so good in my opinion when he fought people.”
Watch the full fight breakdown below: