“‘I Was Like, ’Damn It.’”: Demetrious Johnson Opens Up on His Regret During the Trilogy Bout Against Adriano Moraes at ONE Fight Night 10

Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson successfully defended his ONE Flyweight World Title with a unanimous decision win in his trilogy fight against Adriano “Mikinho” Moraes in the main event of ONE Fight Night 10 last Friday, May 5. But the mixed martial arts GOAT believes there were moments in the contest where he could have closed out the heated rubber match with an epic finish.

Johnson controlled the five-round war from start to finish, much to the joy of the crowd inside 1stBank Center in Denver, Colorado, utilizing his excellent clinch game and striking strategy to dominate his old foe.

Demetrious Johnson tried to finish off Adriano Moraes but failed

Though the victory was welcome, he remains displeased that he couldn’t end his first World Title defense in a similar style to their last meeting in August last year. Johnson said, “I beat him up a lot in the clinch, and I was hurting him a lot, and he did a good job of, like, holding. Herb Dean did a good job of breaking us up. But, at the same time, I was, ‘Herb, like, I’m breaking the body up, give me my opportunity to get his hands down.’”

“And I tried to go airborne and hit him with the knee to the chin, and I was shocked. I thought that I would knock him out. But when I watched the replay, I hit him in the throat. I was like, ‘Damn it.’”

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Not one to get thrown off his game, “Mighty Mouse” maintained his charge as the match entered the championship rounds, and he saw off whatever Moraes had to disrupt his rhythm. After an intense 25-minute battle, Johnson was declared the winner by unanimous decision, gaining him his 25th career victory.

Demetrious Johnson was contented to get a victory and retain his championship

And although he was annoyed that he couldn’t close out the contest with a highlight-reel moment, the Washington native was still delighted to walk out of ONE’s debut show in the United States with the gold still over his shoulder.

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He added, “I feel good, I was grateful to get the W. I really wanted a finish, you know I trained extremely hard to finish in training camp. That’s why I push myself so hard, to look for that finish. And the last time, the second time we fought, I was able to break his body down, get him clinching, and caught him with the right hand, and landed the knee. This time he was not as jumpy, and he was trying to walk me into a flying knee and his elbows. That’s what he did in the second fight.”