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| Adriano Moraes became the first fighter to knock out Demetrious Johnson. One Championship (file photo) |
MANILA--Adriano Moraes achieved what 29 other fighters failed to do against Demetrious Johnson as the former retained his One flyweight title in stunning fashion at One on TNT 1 on Thursday at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.
The Brazilian standout shocked the world after knocking out who fans tipped as the greatest mixed martial artist of all time at the 2:20 mark of the second round.
Fighting mainly on an American television stage, Moraes showed glimpses early on after using his height and reach advantage to keep Johnson at bay before taking him down late into Round 1.
Johnson went more active to start Round 2, but Moraes hit him with a right uppercut followed by a knee strike to the head that staggered him too much, prompting Referee Olivier Coste to stop the fight.
Moraes, who has held the One flyweight belt since 2019, moved up to 19-3, scoring his 13th stoppage win and fourth by knockout.
Meanwhile, Johnson, who lost for the first time by knockout, dropped to 30-4-1.
On the other hand, a controversial ending marred the showdown between Eddie Alvarez and Iuri Lapicus.
Alvarez seemed to have gained full control of the fight after quickly taking Lapicus down and setting up the ground and pound.
However, the referee stopped the fight exactly a minute into it after what appeared to be Alvarez's punches to the back of Lapicus' head, which are illegal in One Championship rules.
After Lapicus said that he could not continue on, Alvarez was handed a disqualification loss.
Lapicus, the world ranked number two lightweight by One, is now at 15-1, while Alvarez lost for the third time in his last four fights, falling to 30-8 overall with one no contest.
In the other nationally televised match, Tinnakorn Srisawat, more popularly known as Rodtang Jitmuangnon, defeated replacement fighter Danial Williams by unanimous decision.
A second round knockdown impacted the outcome as Rodtang did just enough to edge Williams, who showed heart.
In the preliminary bouts, Oumar Kane knocked out Patrick Schmid in heavyweight action, Enriko Kehl edged Chingiz Allazov by split decision, and Raimond Magomdaliev outpointed Tyler McGuire.
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