Eustaquio–Moraes 3 to headline ONE Manila fight card

MANILA. Reigning ONE flyweight world champion Geje Eustaquio and former world champion Adriano Moraes for the third time as they headline One Championship’s Hero’s Ascent at the Mall Of Asia Arena on January 25. (ONE Photo)
MANILA. Reigning ONE flyweight world champion Geje Eustaquio and former world champion Adriano Moraes for the third time as they headline One Championship’s Hero’s Ascent at the Mall Of Asia Arena on January 25. (ONE Photo)

FIGHT fans will be up for another intense mixed martial arts match–up as One Championship sets another blockbuster event in Manila in January 2019.

Reigning ONE flyweight world champion Geje Eustaquio will defend his belt in his home country in a highly-anticipated rubber match against Adriano Moraes.

The longtime rivals will complete their trilogy – the first in promotional history – in the main event at the Mall Of Asia Arena on January 25 in the main event of ONE: Hero’s Ascent.

Moraes and Eustaquio first met when they faced off for the inaugural ONE Flyweight World Championship in the main event of ONE: RISE OF THE KINGDOM in September 2014.

On that occasion, it was the Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt’s superior grappling skills that earned him the victory, as he submitted the Filipino with a second-round guillotine choke to win the gold.

They met again during Moraes’ second reign, this time at ONE: Pinnacle Of Power in June 2018. This time, it was a unification match, as Eustaquio went in as the ONE interim flyweight world champion – and he was armed with a much-improved ground game to go with his highly regarded striking skills.

After five fiercely-contested rounds, Eustaquio earned two of the three judges’ favor to take the tightest of split decisions, and emerge as the undisputed world champion.

With one win apiece in their series, this headlining clash should settle their score, and determine the ruler of their weight class ahead of the start of the ONE flyweight world grand prix on March 31 at ONE: A New Era in Tokyo, Japan.

Seeing action in the grand prix will be Demetrious Johnson, considered as the top MMA pound for pound fighter who signed to the ONE Championship roster in October.

In a landmark year for the organization, the addition of the most dominant mixed martial arts world champion of all time to its ranks showed that even more great things are on the way.

Johnson — who defended his UFC Flyweight World Title an unrivaled 11 times — got his first taste of the promotion in person on his recent trip to Singapore for ONE: Heart of the Lion, and the experience made him even more motivated to make his debut.

His first assignment will be to get past Yuya Wakamatsu in the quarter-finals and set up a bout in the next round against one of the division’s other elite athletes.

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