Demetrious Johnson on Moraes Trilogy, Mikey Musumeci Bout 

Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson has asserted himself in ONE Championship nicely over the last four years, and the MMA icon will add another historical milestone to his resume when he headlines the promotion’s first-ever event on U.S. soil later this year.

The ONE Flyweight World Champion will take on arch nemesis and former divisional king Adriano “Mikinho” Moraes in their trilogy bout when ONE lands at the 1stBank Center in Broomfield in Colorado for ONE Fight Night 10 on Friday, May 5.

Competing in the main event of the card is an honour for “Mighty Mouse,” and with bragging rights, as well as his flyweight crown, on the line in the epic rubber match, he is looking forward to putting on a show in front of his home crowd.

“I’m super excited. Obviously, I’ve started my career in the United States of America, and I’ll come back to it this late in my career is amazing. So I’m very happy for the fans. The fans all over America get the opportunity to see me fight once again,” Johnson said.

The pair enter the third act of their rivalry with one victory apiece over. And not only are they tied 1-1, each defeat stands as the only knockout blemish on their respective records.

It’s hard to to predict who will leave with their hand raised, but Johnson is doing all he can to put on his greatest performance to date.

“Yeah, I think he’s going to go back and watch the second fight and see where I was beating him,” he outlined.

“For me, I’m just going to go out there and try to be the best Demetrious Johnson that I can be.

“When we looked at the first fight against him, we saw a lot of things, and then we were able to execute it in the second fight. In the third fight, I plan on doing the exact same thing, just being in better shape, faster, stronger, and taking the fight to him. Even though I’m the champion, I’m always taking the fight to my opponents.”

Despite approaching the biggest bout of his career, Johnson understands that there is life beyond Moraes.

New opposition provides new motivation, and while he’s supremely focused on leaving Colorado with his belt still over his shoulder, the 24-4 megastar is ready for fresh faces and fresh challenges – and he has one particular opponent in mind.

ONE Flyweight Submission Grappling World Champion Mikey Musumeci has long been calling out the flyweight king, and having thought about it, Johnson is ready to accept the challenge.

That said, the 36-year-old already knows where his limit will be if they ever square off in a submission grappling battle.

“I think fighting fresh blood is always good,” Johnson said.

“It doesn’t matter who I fight because I’m always going to go out there and bring the fight. You look at all my fights in ONE Championship or in my whole entire career. I’ve always bought the fight. When I fought Danny Kingad, Yuya Wakamatsu, Tatsumitsu Wada, Adriano, and Rodtang. It doesn’t matter who I fight. It’s always going to be exciting.”

“I’m probably going to grapple with Mikey Musumeci. He’s a wizard. I told him, I was like, ‘Dude, once you grab my legs, I’m tapping because I am not going to play that game and test my flexibility.’

“I’ve had tears in my LCL and MCL before just fighting in mixed martial arts because my knees are pretty tight. So yeah, I’m totally down to do that.”