Demetrious Johnson vows to come back stronger after KO loss at ONE on TNT 1
Demetrious Johnson suffered the first stoppage loss of his illustrious 14-year career in MMA at the hands of ONE Championship bantamweight king Adriano Moraes.
Johnson didn't get the result he was hoping for. However, the former longtime UFC flyweight champ is doing better after taking a brutal knee strike to the head that put him to sleep on the 2:41 mark of the second round.
Adriano Moraes slays Demetrious Johnson
Despite coming in as the defending champion, Adriano Moraes was pegged as a 5-1 underdog against Demetrious Johnson. He shattered those odds when he successfully defended his crown against Johnson, who's regarded by many as the greatest pound-for-pound MMA fighter of all time.
Adriano Moraes utilized his size and length advantage to perfection. He successfully kept Demetrious Johnson at bay with his long limbs and landed clean shots from a distance early on.
When Mighty Mouse Johnson decided to take the fight to the ground, BJJ black belt Moraes neutralized his opponent's offense and even got to a dominant position before the first round ended.
In round two, Demetrious Johnson stalked Adriano Moraes, who avoided his flurries by circling around and away from his opponent. Johnson's aggression served as his downfall as Moraes tagged him with a perfectly-timed right uppercut while he was rushing forward. Johnson dropped and Moraes finished him off with a nasty knee strike to the head.
The move that sealed Mighty Mouse Johnson's doom is illegal in the UFC but is allowed in a ONE Championship cage. Ironically, Johnson was advocating for the legalization of kneeing a downed opponent in the Octagon following the controversial ending of Petr Yan vs. Aljamain Sterling.
After spending seven years in the UFC, Mighty Mouse was traded to ONE Championship for Ben Askren. He showed no signs of slowing down after winning his first three fights in the Asia-based promotion. Mighty Mouse seemed destined to become a champion once again but Adriano Moraes clearly had other plans.