“I’m going to take him down again” – Adriano Moraes plans to repeat his performance against Danny Kingad at ONE 169

MMA’s top flyweight contender and former king of the division. Adriano “Miquinho” Moraes knows exactly what his advantages are over the contender for third place Danny “King” Kingad.

The pair are set to fight in a decisive rematch at ONE 169: Malykhin vs. Reug Reugwhich will premiere in the US this Friday, November 8th.

This will be Moraes’ first appearance since a tough five-round loss to MMA GOAT. Demetrius “Mighty Mouse” Johnson in their trilogy for the world title at ONE Fight Night 10.

He’s eager to bounce back and earn a chance to take the newly vacated throne – but the same can be said for his old rival Kingada.

The Brazilian met “The King” for the first time in 2017 at the tournament FIRST: LEGENDS OF THE WORLDwhere he scored a dominant first-round submission victory to retain the World MMA Flyweight Championship.

A talented BJJ black belt, Moraes brought his elite ground game to bear that night, a strategy he believed would work in his rematch with Kingad. He said onefc.com:

“In the first fight, I managed to beat him and practiced my jiu-jitsu well, so he knows that my jiu-jitsu is better than his.

“I’m sure he worked a lot on his ground game. But I think the ground game is his weak point, and the strongest part of my game is, without a doubt, jiu-jitsu.”

Of course, much has changed in the seven years since these men last fought.

Kingad switched camps from the famous Lackey team to the new Lions Nation MMA team and worked hard to improve his wrestling skills.

However, Moraes sees the Filipino star as essentially the same fighter – an explosive athlete with a dynamic striking game and decent submission defense.

“Mikinyo” spoke in detail about Kingad’s strengths and weaknesses:

“His strength is definitely his hitting. He perfectly combines wushu with kickboxing. He has very fast hands, punches to the body and head, and also has fast kicks, body and head.

“He is a very dynamic striking athlete. He has some wrestling matches that are very typical of Team Lackey, his former team, so he defends well in jiu-jitsu. But this is something I will work on to counterattack.

“And the part that leaves a lot to be desired is the Muay Thai, the clinch part, the use of angles and knees. And, of course, jiu-jitsu. I think jiu-jitsu is his weakness.”

Taking this into account, Moraes predicts a triumphant return and a repeat of the first meeting with “The King”.

Full of confidence, he briefly and sweetly described how he imagined the battle would unfold:

“I’m going into this fight very consciously and very focused on the fact that I’m going to conquer it again. I’m going to pick it up.

Moraes hopes for world title fight with Reece McClaren

As the No. 1 ranked MMA flyweight contender, Adriano Moraes knows he’s knocking on the door for another world title shot.

With former division kingpin Demetrious Johnson retiring earlier this year, the world MMA flyweight title now remains vacant.

“Miquinho” is confident that if he can beat Danny Kingada on November 8th, his next appearance will have £26 of gold on the line:

“There will be other fights between other contenders to see who can compete for the belt. But I believe that if I win this fight, the next one will be for the belt.”

As for who he’d like to face in a potential world title fight, Moraes is eyeing the No. 4 contender. Reece “Lightning” McLaren – but not because he has any personal differences with the Australian fans’ favorite.

The man known as “Lightning” is a long-time ONE superstar who has been a mainstay in the upper echelon of the MMA flyweight division for many years. And although they were scheduled to meet in the past, he never lost to Moraes.

Miquino added:

“I believe the next contender will be Reece McClaren. I want to fight him because he is one of the few athletes in the rankings that I haven’t fought yet. We were supposed to fight in 2018, but it didn’t happen.

“He’s an athlete who’s been in ONE Championship for a long time, so I think he deserves to fight for the title as well. So I think it’s going to be a struggle.”