“It’s the biggest finish of my career” - Adriano Moraes details the knee heard around the world
In 2021, ONE flyweight world champion Adriano Moraes famously shocked the entire combat sports world by becoming the first man to knock Demetrious Johnson out. The bout, which took place at ONE on TNT 1, was for Moraes' world title.
More than a year after that meeting, the two will be running it back at ONE on Prime Video 1 on August 26. The highly anticipated rematch will headline ONE's first event to kickstart its historic partnership with Amazon Prime Video.
In a video released by ONE Championship, fans can see Adriano Moraes react to his monumental upset win and walk them through how it happened. Some of the more interesting bits in the video saw him state:
"My head coach, Katel Kubis, he said, 'Hey Adriano, he’s coming for you already. Are you ready?’ He said to me, ‘Hey Adriano, prepare your special’"
'Mikinho' then proceeded with a statement that summed it all up:
"I think it’s the biggest finish of my career."
It was, indeed, the biggest finish of his career. It's the biggest finish of anybody's career. Becoming the first man to knock out who some consider the greatest of all time has to be the finest win of anybody's pro record.
Watch the full react video here:
"All about the UFC against ONE Championship" - Adriano Moraes on the magnitude of his first fight with DJ
One of the more interesting bits of the video was how Adriano Moraes framed the magnitude of the fight with regards to what it meant for ONE.
The Brazilian world champion saw the fight as more than just another world title defense for him, as he explained:
"It's all about UFC against ONE Championship. Because while I was dominating ONE Championship, DJ [Johnson] was dominating UFC. And everybody said, 'UFC's better than ONE Championship.' I said, 'Oh, now you have the opportunity to see who is the best.'"
The bout was truly one of the most pivotal moments in ONE Championship's 10-year history. Adriano Moraes' win formally introduced the caliber of ONE's talent against those deemed the "best in the world" and they dominated like no other.
ONE is now considered the largest martial arts organization in the world and one of the best MMA promoters in the business today. With Moraes' KO win over Johnson, ONE successfully secured its place at the top table of fight promotion.