The trilogy between Demetrious Johnson and Adriano Moraes will go down on American soil.
Round 3
You heard that right, ONE Championship is headed to the United States for the first time in its history. On Monday, the promotion announced that former champ Moraes will be getting an immediate rematch with Johnson on May 5th. The third fight between the two will take place at 1stBank Center in Broomfield, Colorado which is right outside of Denver.
ONE’s U.S. debut has been in the works for a while. The Singapore-based promotion pushed to make this happen in the last few years but things didn’t pan out. Fast forward to today and the show will finally go on since the Colorado commission has adopted ONE’s unique ruleset.
“This is a monumental day in the history of ONE Championship as we announce our U.S. on-ground debut in Colorado on Friday, May 5,” ONE Championship CEO Chatri Sityodtong wrote in a press release. “We are very grateful for the support of the state athletic commission and look forward to putting on an unforgettable show for our passionate fanbase in the U.S. and watching around the world.”
The History
This will be Johnson’s first fight in the states since 2018, where he lost his UFC flyweight title to Henry Cejudo at UFC 227. That would also be Johnson’s last fight inside the Octagon as the former UFC Champion was traded off to ONE Championship with the UFC getting Ben Askren in return.
Since the historical trade, ‘Mighty Mouse’ has went 4-1 in ONE and even holds a win over striking sensation Rodtang Jitmuangnon in a special rules bout. Johnson has only lost to Moraes in his promotional run, a loss that he recently avenged in August.
Johnson would get his revenge on Moraes, knocking him out to win the ONE Flyweight title.
Moraes looks to seek redemption from his first loss in four years when he meets his rival once again. He’ll try to repeat what he did in the first fight against Johnson which took him only two rounds to finish the greatest flyweight of all time back in 2021.
For those in the U.S. and Canada, the event headlined by the trilogy will air live on Amazon Prime Video.
