Tag: ONE Championship News

Eddie Alvarez Is In ‘Serious’ Talks For A Fight With Oscar De La Hoya

Eddie AlvarezEddie Alvarez has revealed he is in “serious” talks for a fight with Oscar De La Hoya. The legendary boxer announced his return to the ring earlier this month. De La Hoya is set to headline a Triller pay-per-view event scheduled for July 3. An opponent is yet to be named but according to Alvarez […]

Eddie Alvarez

Eddie Alvarez has revealed he is in “serious” talks for a fight with Oscar De La Hoya.

The legendary boxer announced his return to the ring earlier this month.

De La Hoya is set to headline a Triller pay-per-view event scheduled for July 3.

An opponent is yet to be named but according to Alvarez he is on the cusp of being booked to face ‘Golden Boy’

“Recently we’ve been hearing from Oscar De La Hoya’s guys,” Alvarez told ESPN. “I’m fixated on the ONE championship belt. I mean, I’m laser, laser-focused on making history and getting my world title. But I feel like, there’s going to be a lull. The champion is going to sit for a little bit. I think he’s having a baby. If that happens, Oscar De Lay Hoya and them guys have been reaching out. Hell, I’d love to get in there and mix it up with him. That’d be a hell of a fight. I’ve got everybody here in Philadelphia backing me and the whole of Philadelphia boxing to back me up. To get in there and mix it up with that guy would be a dream come true. I actually think I’d do pretty damn good against him. I’d be crazy excited if them guys figure that out.

The former UFC and Bellator champion later confirmed fight talks are serious and a deal for the boxing bout could be reached this week.

“Oh, yeah. They’re serious,” Alvarez said. “Like, wanting to get a deal done this week serious.”

Do you want to see Eddie Alvarez face Oscar De La Hoya in the boxing ring?

EXCLUSIVE | Adriano Moraes Ready For Whatever Challenge Is Next

Adriano MoraesAdriano Moraes is down for a rematch with Demetrius Johnson, but it’s not the only fight that interests him. The MMA world was shocked last week, as Moraes, the One Championship Featherweight Champion, finished Demetrius “Mighty Mouse” Johnson in the second round of their title fight. The first man to ever stop Johnson, Moraes believes […]

Adriano Moraes

Adriano Moraes is down for a rematch with Demetrius Johnson, but it’s not the only fight that interests him.

The MMA world was shocked last week, as Moraes, the One Championship Featherweight Champion, finished Demetrius “Mighty Mouse” Johnson in the second round of their title fight. The first man to ever stop Johnson, Moraes believes that he has multiple options as far as his next opponent.

In an interview with LowKickMMA, Moraes talked about a rematch with Johnson and other fights that interest him.

“Right now I’m waiting for the answer from the company. We have some issues to resolve because it was my last fight for my contract. Let’s see what’s gonna happen,” Moraes shared. “Maybe you can do a rematch, Moraes versus Johnson 2. I’m also looking forward to a trilogy match with Kairat Akhmetov.”

There’s no shortage of challenges for the champ, who understands the enormity of having new sets of eyes on him now that One Championship is on TNT. With his status currently in limbo with the organization, Moraes opened up about other matchups in the UFC and Bellator that he would find challenging.

“Figueiredo’s gonna be a good fight, you know, in the flyweight division. Aljamain Sterling, um, I would like to, to punch him in the face also. Um, I think those two guys gonna be good in their divisions. You have the Bellator champ Archuleta, the 135 champion, it’s gonna be good.”

When asked to elaborate on why he’d like to fight Sterling, Moraes made it clear that there are no personal issues between the two.

“No, I don’t have nothing against him, you know. I like, I think it would be a good match, you know. I like to challenge myself. I don’t, like, worry about what they think. But, um, I think it would be a good one. You know like, he has a good reach also he’s heavy for the Bantamweight division. He’s tough,he has many good wins against my teammates. I think it would be a good one.”

Who do you want to see Adriano Moraes fight next?

Sage Northcutt Out Of Shinya Aoki Fight Due To Lingering COVID-19 Effects

NorthcuttSage Northcutt will no longer be competing at ONE On TNT IV. Northcutt was set to make his highly-anticipated return against former ONE lightweight champion Shinya Aoki at the event taking place April 28 in Singapore. However, that is no longer the case as the former UFC prospect is suffering from lingering effects of COVID-19 […]

Northcutt

Sage Northcutt will no longer be competing at ONE On TNT IV.

Northcutt was set to make his highly-anticipated return against former ONE lightweight champion Shinya Aoki at the event taking place April 28 in Singapore. However, that is no longer the case as the former UFC prospect is suffering from lingering effects of COVID-19 as per ESPN.

It’s a big blow for Northcutt who hasn’t competed since May 2019 when he was brutally knocked out by Cosmo Alexandre in his ONE debut.

The 25-year-old was looking to make a splash in his comeback and earn his first win at the promotion in the process, but that will have to wait for now.

As for Aoki, he will remain on the card and battle Eduard Folayang instead.

It will be a trilogy fight with their first two meetings being lightweight title clashes that saw both fighters earn one win apiece. Their most recent meeting was in March 2019 when Aoki submitted Folayang to become the lightweight champion at the time.

Folayang was originally set to take on Yoshihiro Akiyama but the latter had to withdraw due to injury.

Adriano Moraes Reveals Masvidal Told Him To Use The Knee Against ‘DJ’

Adriano MoraesONE Championship flyweight titleholder, Adriano Moraes, has revealed a conversation he had with UFC contender Jorge Masvidal ahead of his fight against Demetrious Johnson. Moraes picked up the biggest win of his career when he knocked out ‘Mighty Mouse’ inside two rounds at ONE on TNT 1 earlier this week. The Brazilian dropped Johnson with […]

Adriano Moraes

ONE Championship flyweight titleholder, Adriano Moraes, has revealed a conversation he had with UFC contender Jorge Masvidal ahead of his fight against Demetrious Johnson.

Moraes picked up the biggest win of his career when he knocked out ‘Mighty Mouse’ inside two rounds at ONE on TNT 1 earlier this week. The Brazilian dropped Johnson with an uppercut before landed a picture-perfect knee to his grounded opponent. Moraes swarmed with some punches before the referee mercifully stepped in.

Ahead of the fight his ATT teammate, Masvidal advised him to look for the knee against Johnson, “the knee can change your life.”

“Some weeks ago, a month ago, when he saw me in fight camp preparing to fight, he said, ‘Adriano, I see how you train and let me tell you something, the knee can change your life. Like the knee I did on Ben Askren, you can do on Demetrious Johnson because you have good knee attacks,’” Moraes told South China Morning Post

Moraes clearly listened to his teammate and became the first man to stop Johnson, who is widley regarded as the best flyweight fighter of all-time.

The ONE Championship star is grateful to have Masvidal as a friend and predicts we’ll see ‘Gambred’ lift UFC gold in the near future.

“Man, he’s always inside the gym working hard, he’s such an amazing guy. He’s a good teammate. He likes to help his friends,” Moraes said. “He’s a veteran fighter. He knows what you need to do to get this win and bring that belt home. So I think this fight is going to be tough, but he’s going to do good. I think he’s going to win via TKO in the second or third round.” (Transcribed by BJPENN.com)

Do you think getting advice from Jorge Masvidal helped Adriano Moraes become the first man to stop Demetrious ‘Mighty Mouse’ Johnson?

John Lineker Can’t Complain About UFC Releasing Him

LinekerJohn Lineker has no complaints about the events that led to his release from the UFC. Lineker was cut by the Las Vegas-based promotion in 2019 after he had to pull out of his rematch with Rob Font due to injury. That was despite the Brazilian coming off just his fourth defeat — notably to […]

Lineker

John Lineker has no complaints about the events that led to his release from the UFC.

Lineker was cut by the Las Vegas-based promotion in 2019 after he had to pull out of his rematch with Rob Font due to injury. That was despite the Brazilian coming off just his fourth defeat — notably to current top-ranked contender Cory Sandhagen — in 16 outings for the UFC.

One big reason was the fact that Lineker was struggling to make fights for various reasons as he explained in a recent interview with Super Lutas (via Bloody Elbow).

That said, he’s thankful to have competed for the UFC as it changed his life for the better.

“A bunch of factors (led to my release),” Lineker said. “It started when I was going to fight Cody Garbrandt, but I got dengue fever and the fight was cancelled. The UFC lost a lot on that, because it was a really important fight for the division. Then I was going to fight Jimmie Rivera, but I got some bacteria. So lots of things that were beyond my control happened.

“The UFC started to give me the cold shoulder because of that. I went a long time without a fight and it was bad for me. I have a family, five kids. I need to work a lot. I started getting upset. I went as far as telling them to let me go if they were unhappy with me. Then they booked a fight, I got injured and they decided to cut me.

“I took the release well. It was fair. I can’t complain. I can only thank them for the seven years I spent in the UFC. It changed my life. I was able to better provide for my family. Now it’s a new life and a new home.”

Now at ONE Championship where he is 2-0 following victories over Muin Gafurov and former champion Kevin Belingon, “Hands of Stone” is targeting Bibiano Fernandes’ bantamweight crown.

However, Stephen Lomar comes first who Lineker meets on April 21.

“I’m 100% focused on him (Bibiano). I only have one more step ahead of me,” Lineker added. “I’m very determined to win my next fight, because Bibiano is my final target. I want to be become a world champion. I’m very excited for that.”

Demetrious Johnson Echoes Support For Grounded Knee Strikes Following KO Loss To Adriano Moraes

JohnsonDespite suffering a knockout defeat to defending flyweight champion, Adriano Moraes last night at ONE on TNT I via a knee, Demetrious Johnson maintains the use of a knee strike to the head of a grounded opponent should be allowed to be utilized.  Challenging for the ONE Championship title in last night’s co-headliner, Johnson dropped […]

Johnson

Despite suffering a knockout defeat to defending flyweight champion, Adriano Moraes last night at ONE on TNT I via a knee, Demetrious Johnson maintains the use of a knee strike to the head of a grounded opponent should be allowed to be utilized. 

Challenging for the ONE Championship title in last night’s co-headliner, Johnson dropped his first defeat under the Singapore-based promotion’s banner, as well as the first finish loss of his gold-laden professional career. 

Suffering a second-round knockdown via a well-placed uppercut from American Top Team mainstay, Moraes — Johnson was struck with a left knee, rendering him unconscious as he attempted to gather himself and secure an under-hook. 

Back in March at UFC 259, current bantamweight titleholder, Aljamain Sterling was crowned the undisputed titleholder after he suffered an illegal knee strike in the fourth-round against defending gold holder, Petr Yan.

Under the UFC’s banner, the use of knees to the head of a grounded opponent is deemed illegal, and following Sterling’s ascension to the throne via a disqualification win, Johnson took to his Twitter to back the use of knees to the head of a grounded opponent in the sport.

“Here’s the thing, you can’t stall the fight by sitting on your knees,” Johnson wrote. “Knees to a (the head) of a grounded opponent should be allowed!“

Reflecting on last night’s defeat to Moraes, Johnson explained that he still likes the rules enforced by ONE Championship, despite suffering a knockout defeat himself as a result of the strike.

“I like these rules,” Johnson said during a post-fight scrum with media. “Like I said, it’s a progression of a fight. I went down on my back, I was coming up for an under-hook. Adriano (Moraes) had me posted and blasted a knee, the fights over, it’s done. I don’t get any more concussions. It’s just done. And it was a different position than I’ve been in. Adriano did a good job of using his length. He fully extended me and landed the knee…“

“Yeah absolutely (I still support the rule),” Johnson said. “Like I said, it ended the fight. I wasn’t stalling one bit. I was trying to get up and fight and I got blasted with a knee. (In) My very first fight in ONE Championship — I did it to Yuya Wakamatsu and ended up getting the finish. The rule is meant to be there to keep the fight progressing and end the fight. If Adriano wasn’t able to land that knee, yes I would have still been in that fight so he would have had to do something totally different. I’m totally content with what happened. I’m not like, ‘That rule should be taken out!’ That’s what the rule is, Adriano used it to his advantage and I was on the other end of the stick.” (H/T MMA Fighting)

Commenting on Johnson’s defeat, the aforenoted, Sterling maintains that the use of knees to the head of a grounded opponent should remain illegal. 

“This is why knees to downed opponents are vicious and ILLEGAL in MMA in the UFC! If this was the USA that knee is not allowed and ‘Mighty Mouse’ (Demetrious Johnson) can get up in a more safe and protective manner. I hope ‘Mighty Mouse’ is ok, but this is why I disagree with those rules. #ONEonTNT1“