Former ONE Championship flyweight champion Adriano Moraes has booked his first fight in over a year when he returns for a rematch against Danny Kingad at the upcoming ONE 169 scheduled in Atlanta on Nov. 8
ONE Championship officials confirmed the matchup to MMA Fighting on Thursday.
The matchup against Kingad serves as Moraes’ return to action after he suffered back-to-back losses to Demetrious Johnson as they completed a trilogy of fights. Moraes pulled off a stunning knockout to beat Johnson back in 2021 to defend his ONE flyweight title.
Johnson then got revenge with a knockout of his own in the rematch in 2022 before the Brazilian dropped a unanimous decision to the former UFC champion back in May 2023. Moraes hasn’t fought since that night.
He returns against Kingad, who is a mainstay in the ONE flyweight division after first debuting with the promotion back in 2016. Kingad actually fought Moraes in his fourth appearance with ONE but suffered a submission loss in the first round with the flyweight title up for grabs.
Following that loss, Kingad won his next six fights in a row before he also fell to Johnson via decision in the finals of the ONE Flyweight World Grand Prix.
Now almost exactly seven years after they first met, Moraes and Kingad meet again in the second ONE Championship card in the United States in 2024 following an event scheduled in Denver in September.
