Danny Kingad is poised to exact revenge when he squares off again with Adriano Moraes, seven years since they first met in One Championship.
It will be a different Kingad this time who was then undefeated in his first seven bouts, gaining enough experience in the course of seven years racking up eight wins including three defeats including to current flyweight world champion Demetrious Johnson via unanimous decision.
Kingad knows that a victory over the decorated former titleholder could lead to a coveted shot at gold in a high-stakes rematch between two of the flyweight MMA division’s perennial standouts heading to ONE 169: Atlanta on Friday, November 8.
A veteran of 16 thrilling battles in the world’s largest martial arts organization, Moraes originally captured the flyweight MMA belt in 2014.
The 36-year-old most recently completed his epic world title trilogy with Johnson considered by many as MMA’s greatest of all time, first scoring a stunning knockout victory in April 2021 before losing the gold via KO in August 2022.
In May at ONE’s blockbuster debut on American soil, the Brazilian suffered a hard-fought decision defeat to Johnson in their highly anticipated third contest.
Moraes is now undoubtedly hungry to put on a show for American fans, defend his #1 spot in the flyweight MMA rankings, and erase any doubts that he’s still an elite talent.
Like Moraes, the Filipino is no stranger to the flyweight MMA division’s top five. Since making his debut in 2015, Kingad has racked up 11 impressive victories to establish himself as one of the most feared contenders.
While he’s gone 2-2 against top competition in his last four bouts, the 28-year-old wushu specialist remains a serious threat to claim the world title.
Notably, the pair’s clash at ONE 169 will come seven years after their first meeting at ONE: LEGENDS OF THE WORLD, where Kingad challenged then-ONE flyweight mma world champion Moraes.
In that fight, Moraes employed his black belt-level grappling to score a sensational first-round submission and retain his crown.
Kingad has since improved by leaps and bounds, and the loss to Moraes remains the only time he’s ever been finished in his 19-fight professional career. NLMonitor
