ONE Championship Flyweight Champion Demetrious Johnson Talks Completing the Trilogy, MCU Phase 5, and More
Tonight ONE Championship will make its United States debut, and ONE Fight Night 10 will feature a rematch that fans will absolutely not want to miss. The event will air live from Denver Colorado on Prime Video and will be headlined by Flyweight World Champion Demetrious Mighty Mouse Johnson taking on Adriano Moraes for the third and final time. Moraes was the one who defeated Johnson in their first throwdown, but Johnson came back with a vengeance and took Moraes down and reclaimed his Title. Now the two stars will face each other once more, and ComicBook.com had a chance to speak to Johnson in the lead-up to the fight about what this win will mean, though we also touched on his love of gaming and his thoughts on MCU's Phase 4 and 5.
Johnson's main focus has been on Moraes, and he hopes to end this trilogy in climactic fashion. There hasn't been a bevy of time since their last fight to prepare, but Johnson is taking away some lessons from their previous fight and the other competitors he's faced along the way to this point.
"Yeah, I think the biggest thing is that he's a tough opponent and just taking what I've learned from the first and the second fight and bringing it into the third fight," Johnson said. "I mean, it's only been nine months since we competed against each other, which isn't really a long time in mixed martial arts timeframe in my opinion. So just going out there and pushing the pace and see what unfolds and just be able to capitalize on what I want to do and see if I can execute it."
"The first time we fought it was during COVID-19, and then after I lost, I got the opportunity to fight another fight, which was against Rodtang, which was probably one of the hardest hitters on the ONE Championship roster if you take pound for pound," Johnson said. "So get an opportunity to fight Rodtang and forced to fight him on the feet, and that's where Adriano caught me last time. Kind of opened my eyes up to how to approach certain things and then to get that finish and then I was able to watch him fight live and see him fight against another striker, Yuya Wakamatsu. I fought him, I watched him fight live and I had a fight in between to where this one we fought and now we're here to fight again."
"So there was no break, and for me, when I get to see somebody, it was the same thing when I fought Henry Cejudo. Before I fought him, I watched him live," Johnson said. "I sat down and I watched exactly how he approached the fight and what I thought the difference makers were when I watched Adriano fight Yuya Wakamatsu.
For Johnson, this is for all intents and purposes the final chapter in his story with Moraes, even if the outcome isn't what he hopes for. "Oh, one thousand percent. Even if I lose, there's been fights where there's a fourth time. I don't think, if it's going to be a fourth one, it would have to be a long gap in between. But knowing that I'm 36, I don't see myself fighting for that many years. I don't foresee there being a fourth one and I don't want to go back to back. I think it gets stale after a while. My opinion," Johnson said.
ONE Championship holding an event in the United States is a big step towards bringing their stateside presence up to their international one. The growth doesn't show any signs of stopping, and Johnson is thrilled to be a part of that growth and expansion.
"Yeah, just the growth," Johnson said. "To see the growth of it has been absolutely amazing, for them to finally make their US debut. It's kind of awesome and for me to be a part of it just kind of adds icing on the cake. I'm going to do my best to promote and go out there and put on a great fight to show people why it's the best organization in the world."
When Johnson isn't training to be one of the best in the world, he's creating content for this popular YouTube channel Mighty Gaming, though he also finds time to watch the Marvel Cinematic Universe unfold. Phase 4 was a bit divisive in some ways, and Phase 5 is off to a somewhat divisive beginning as well. There are several projects on the horizon that have his interest, even if some of the multiverse elements haven't been as effective.
"I really enjoyed Namor, I thought he was absolutely amazing. I would love to see more of Namor and his society. I'm not really too keen on Fantastic Four. We have Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 coming out. I'm super excited about that because I feel like they're kind of that last part of the Avengers, of that Thanos era. You have Adam Warlock coming into play, and who knows what they're going to do with The Eternals," Johnson said.
Regarding this current phase, Johnson said, "I mean, I think they're just kind of all over the place. They're trying to find their footing. Then you also have Quantumania with Jonathan Majors as Kang, and then at the end of Quantumania, you got to see all the other Kangs coming together. I feel like introducing the multiverse could have been a mistake because now you have all these different where's our next Thanos? Where's Thanos from planet 1664?"
"I think the biggest movie I'm looking forward to in this phase is probably Guardians of the Galaxy Volume Three. I think that whole bunch, the misfits coming together, Star-Lord, Drax, Rocket Raccoon, et cetera, et cetera," Johnson said.
You can watch ONE Fight Night 10: Johnson vs. Moraes III on Prime Video right here, and you can find Johnson's Mighty Gaming channel here.