One of the greatest mixed martial artists of all time, Demetrious Johnson got knocked out by ONE FC flyweight champion Adriano Moraes in round 2.
Demetrious Johnson made his MMA return in the main event of ONE FC’s first card in the United States. This was huge for ONE FC as it opens opportunities to acquire more fans. However, the outcome of the main event and co-main event did not go in the favor of ONE FC.
Two biggest American fighters in ONE FC’s roaster lost in the main and co-main event tonight. Eddie Alvarez was disqualified for an illegal knee to the back of his opponent’s head. On the other hand, arguably the MMA GOAT when it comes to skillsets got Knocked out for the first time in his MMA career.
Both Demetrious Johnson and Adriane Moraes were coming off a long layoff. However, Moraes looked like the better fighter tonight. He had a huge reach advantage, he was quick and elusive. DJ was struggling to get hold of Moraes and do any significant damage with his striking.
Besides that, the ending sequence was a little controversial. DJ got caught with a left hook that rocked him. DJ was rushing into engaging in a clinch exchange when Moraes threw a picture-perfect hook. However, it seemed DJ was fine and on a recovery mode as he went for a single leg. But, ONE FC does allow fighters to throw knee to a downed opponent, which is not the case in UFC. And that became the reason for DJ’s first TKO loss in his long illustrious MMA career.
Demetrious Johnson vows to come back stronger
Following his first loss in ONE FC, Demetrious Johnson stated: “All good everyone back in the hotel. watch the fight. shitty day in the office. congratz to Adriano Moraes. We will be back.”
“When you are in this game for long enough it was gonna happen one day.”
Adriano Moraes becomes the third fighter to beat Demetrious Johnson in his MMA career. Besides him, Henry Cejudo, Dominick Cruz, and Brad Pickett have beaten DJ before.
2021 has been a disastrous year for some of the big names in MMA. We have seen Israel Adesanya lose in his UFC light heavyweight debut, we saw Conor McGregor and Stipe Miocic getting KOed and now Demetrious Johnson getting finished for the first time in his career. But, it must be said that the fans are getting to enjoy exciting fights in UFC, Bellator, and ONE FC this year.