It’s been seven years since former ONE Flyweight MMA World Champion Adriano Moraes stood across from #3-ranked contender Danny Kingad in ONE Championship, and the Brazilian standout believes his grappling abilities still outweigh his adversary’s.
The pair are set to lock horns in a long-awaited rematch at ONE 169: Malykhin vs. Reug Reug this Saturday, 9th November, inside Bangkok, Thailand’s Lumpinee Stadium, and a shot at the stacked division’s vacant gold may be on the cards for the winner.
Moraes walked away with the win when he submitted Kingad in the first round of their initial meeting at ONE: LEGENDS OF THE WORLD in September 2017, and the former World Champion is confident he’ll do the same this weekend.
“I’m sure he’s been working on his ground game a lot. But I believe that the ground game is his weak point, and the strongest part of my game is jiu-jitsu, without a doubt,” Moraes said.
“I’m going into this fight very conscious and very focused that I’m going to submit him again. I’m going to get him.”
With 16 appearances in ONE Championship to his name, “Mikinho” has faced just about everybody that’s come and gone in the flyweight MMA division – except one.
He has yet to take on #4-ranked contender Reece “Lightning” McLaren, despite being scheduled to take him on more than one occasion.
Moraes is aware of the Australian veteran's prowess in the world’s largest martial arts organization, so if he wins at ONE 169 and gets another shot at the flyweight MMA crown, he’d like McLaren to be standing opposite him.
“I believe the next contender will be Reece McLaren. I want to face him because he is one of the only athletes in the rankings that I haven’t fought yet. We were supposed to fight in 2018, but it didn’t happen,” he said.
“He’s an athlete who’s been in ONE Championship for a long time, so I think he deserves to fight for the title as well. So I think that would be the fight to make.”
