ONE Championship News Roundup (April 19, 2023)

Welcome to today's edition of the daily Sportskeeda ONE Championship News Roundup, where we present the promotion's most important stories.

Today’s issue talks about an interesting revelation from Roberto Soldic, Reinier de Ridder’s thoughts on Aung La N Sang’s potential world title challenge, and Demetrious Johnson’s mindset heading into his third fight with Adriano Moraes.

---

#3. ONE Championship welterweight Roberto Soldic admits he never used to lift weights

Roberto Soldic is known as one of the most fearsome strikers in MMA, but did you know that he didn’t lift weights for much of his run?

Ahead of his match against former ONE welterweight world champion Zebaztian Kadestam, ‘Robocop’ revealed that much of his vaunted power did not come from lifting weights.

In an interview with MMA Sucka, Soldic said:

“The main code from my boxing coach was we do a lot of strength and conditioning for boxing. Of course, I do a lot of wrestling training, like body-to-body, you know? It’s the same as lifting. I don’t go in a gym and do bench presses, or like bodybuilding [exercises]. When I started MMA, I started lifting. But for the last four years, I didn’t lift. I just did strength and conditioning.”

Watch the full interview here:

---

#2. Reinier de Ridder not keen on fighting Aung La N Sang a third time

ONE middleweight world champion Reinier de Ridder welcomes any challenger to his reign, but he's not particularly excited to face someone he's dominated before.

Former titleholder Aung La N Sang is on a warpath as he looks to reclaim the gold he lost to De Ridder. However, even back-to-back stoppage wins are not enough to impress 'The Dutch Knight'.

Speaking to The MMA Superfan, Reinier de Ridder said:

“To be honest, I’m not too excited about it right now but we’ll see what happens down the line. I choked him out in the first round the first time, then I dominated him in five rounds the second time. There’s not too much to prove there.”

Check out the full interview here:

---

#1. Demetrious Johnson ready to pick up where he left off against Adriano Moraes

Demetrious Johnson is looking to put an end to his rivalry with Adriano Moraes with the mentality that he's in "round seven" against the former ONE flyweight world champion.

Moraes defeated 'Mighty Mouse' in the second round of their first encounter, while Johnson returned the favor in the fourth round of their rematch. The American star hopes to carry the momentum of his win to his third encounter with Moraes.

During an appearance on the Kickin' It with Liam Harrison podcast, Demetrious Johnson said:

"We did two rounds the first time, we got four rounds, so yeah it’s round six or it’s round seven and I’m gonna go out there and start off where I left off."