Demetrious Johnson, one of the most dominant champions in mixed martial arts history, suffered an overwhelming defeat on Wednesday against Adriano Moraes during an iconic night for the Asia-based ONE Championship promotion.
The ONE Championship event took place in Singapore and was broadcast live in the United States via TNT, marking the company’s first live broadcast on American television.
Johnson (30-3-1), widely regarded as one of the best fighters of all time, was an obvious candidate to lead. As the UFC flyweight champion, he set the record for consecutive defenses for the title, defending the belt 11 times from 2013 to 2018.
But it was Moraes (19-3) who took full advantage of the opportunity, eliminating Johnson with a bad knee 2 minutes and 24 seconds into the second round to retain his flyweight title. The knee would have been illegal according to MMA rules in the US, as Johnson was in a ground position when he was hit, but such attacks are allowed under the banner of the ONE championship in Asia.
“I have to go home and watch the fight, see when I made mistakes,” said Johnson, 34, who had never been eliminated before Wednesday. “Adriano is very long, big. It was hard trying to get to him. That’s part of the game. You stay in this game long enough, that’s sure to happen at some point, right?”
Moraes, from Brazil, had been waiting years for the opportunity to fight Johnson. While the fight was for the flyweight title, it was actually fought at 135 pounds, as the ONE Championship weight classes are modified from those in the United States to deter extreme weight reduction. Moraes first won a title in the ONE Championship in 2014. He lost his belt in 2015, before regaining the undisputed title in 2017.
Moraes ’height and range advantage offered Johnson major problems prematurely. While there wasn’t much offense in the first round, it was obvious Johnson was struggling to correct his opposing opponent, and struggled to match Moraes ’physicality on the ground. Moraes almost got a right knee in the second round, just moments before a right uppercut dropped Johnson and then the final blow to the knee left him cold.
ONE Championship has several more live events scheduled on TNT this month, although Wednesday’s card offered the best lineup in terms of name recognition in the US
Alvarez-Lapicus ends with a quick disqualification
In addition to the main flyweight event, the ONE Championship promoted a lightweight bout between former Bellator MMA champion and UFC champion Eddie Alvarez, and the promotion’s No. 2 lightweight champion, Yuri Lapicus. The co-feature had an unfortunate end, in which Alvarez (30-8) was disqualified in the first round by blows to the back of the head.
Alvarez, of Pennsylvania, marked an early retreat and caught Lapicus’ legs below him along the fence. When Alvarez began throwing his wide right hands from the top position, Lapicus turned his head toward the fence, exposing the back of his head. Alvarez continued firing shots until Lapicus reacted badly to one of them and fell back into the canvas.
The action was stopped as the referee gave an illegal blow and separated the fighters. Alvarez immediately answered the legality of the beatings, but later expressed concern about Lapicus’ health.
“Yuri turned her head away and the referee warned me,‘ Behind your head! Alvarez said. “If you see it, I grab my head and head to the side where the punches came from. Also, I thought that while I was hitting my ear, I thought it was cool. Whatever the call to the referee mark is fine. I hope Yuri is totally okay. This game is so dangerous, all I care about is that everyone stays safe. “
If Alvarez had won the match, it would have been a step closer to competing for the ONE lightweight championship. As it is, he suffers his third defeat in four fights.