Adriano Moraes trains hands with Brazilian boxing legend Ivan de Oliveira

Adriano Moraes is just a few weeks away from cementing his legacy as one of the, if not the, greatest flyweight mixed martial artist of all time. On August 26, ‘Mikinho’ will face all-time great Demetrious Johnson for the second time when the promotion debuts on Amazon Prime Video.

In the main event of ONE 161, the two will run back their highly entertaining showdown from ONE on TNT in April 2021. That night, Moraes scored a second-round knockout, becoming the first man to ever KO ‘Mighty Mouse’ in combat sports. ‘Mikinho’ plans to repeat that result and is bringing in some big guns to help him do it.

On his Instagram, Moraes shared a picture of himself training with Brazilian boxing legend Ivan de Oliveira with the caption:

“How was my moves ?@ivan_de_oliveira_boxe 😂👊🏾”

In 2006, Ivan de Oliveira conquered Valdemir Pereira to become the International Boxing Federation featherweight world champion. Primarily operating as a boxing coach, 24-year-old Oliveira became the youngest coach to win a world title.

Since then, he has been featured on The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil, working with coach Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua’s team. In a translated interview, Oliveira said:

“The future is uncertain, but the objective is to put these youngsters in full conditions to be in the big events with every chance to stand out on the world stage, fighting boxing, of course."

Ivan de Oliveira is the son of Servílio de Oliveira, a bronze medalist at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico. His brother Gabriel Oliveira is a world-renowned boxing coach out of American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, CA.

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Adriano Moraes looking for a second finish of Demetrious Johnson at ONE 161

In their first meeting, Adriano Moraes delivered one of the most brutal knockouts of the year. With his opponent on the canvas working his way back up, ‘Mikinho’ landed a crushing knee to the chin of Demetrious Johnson, immediately flattening the fighter and forcing a stoppage by the referee.

It was a shocking turn of events. Most people pegged ‘Mighty Mouse’ as the favorite to win. But Moraes got it done with a picture-perfect knee. Perhaps in a rematch, the reigning world champion will aim to get the job done with his hands.

In their first outing, Moraes was elusive, frustrating his opponent. Johnson’s impatience got the best of him and a failed takedown attempt led to the fight-ending sequence.

If Moraes implements a similar game plan, he could use his improved striking to catch Johnson moving in, particularly in the later rounds if Adriano Moraes is able to frustrate ‘Mighty Mouse’ as he did in the first contest.

It all goes down on August 26 when the promotion makes its highly anticipated debut on Amazon Prime Video on US primetime.