Demetrious Johnson and Eddie Alvarez were set for their second ONE Championship fight on Aug. 2 at ONE: Dawn of Heroes. There, the two former UFC champions were looking to advance to the finals of their respective Grand Prix.
“Mighty Mouse”
Johnson, who won his promotional debut against Yuya Wakamatsu, was now taking on Tatsumitsu Wada. Early on it was Wada who surprisingly was having success as he took Johnson’s back and was looking to sink in a rear-naked choke. He was also landing ground and pound, yet “Mighty Mouse” survived the scare and the first round ended.
The flyweight GOAT proves superior in front of a stern test, as Demetrious Johnson (29-3-1) rallies to beat two-time DEEP champ Tatsumitsu Wada at his own grappling and scrambling game. Now 15-1-1 at flyweight, "Mighty Mouse" will face Danny Kingad in the GP finals. #DawnOfHeroes pic.twitter.com/oQ43iu1gw5
— Kyle Johnson (@VonPreux) August 2, 2019
In the second round, it was all Johnson who dominated the round as he took Wada down early on with a nice double leg. But, he couldn’t pass his opponent’s guard and instead had to do most of his work in the guard, where he didn’t land anything significant, but it was a big bounce-back round for him. The third and final round saw much of the same as the second, as the former UFC flyweight champion, took Wada down and immediately had success. He started to land heavy ground and pound and cut Wada which resulted in the cut having to be checked.
When the final bell rang, the judges were unanimous in giving Demetrious Johnson the win. He will now take on Danny Kingad in the flyweight Grand Prix final.
Demetrious Johnson books his place in the ONE Flyweight World Grand Prix finals with a unanimous decision win over ultra-tough Tatsumitsu Wada! @MightyMouse #WeAreONE #DawnOfHeroes #Manila #MartialArts pic.twitter.com/1uaCiNgQHn
— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) August 2, 2019
“The Underground King”
Eddie Alvarez was back in the lightweight Grand Prix even though he suffered a shocking first-round knock out loss to Timofey Nastyukhin. Yet, injuries resulted in “The Underground King” back in the tournament against former champion, Eduard Folayang.
Early on, it was Folayang who had the success and it looked like Alvarez was going to be TKO’d again. The former ONE champion was piecing up Alvarez and landing at will. He was landing everything with ease and kept moving forward which resulted in Alvarez having to curl up and defend the head along the ropes.
Eddie Alvarez overcomes Eduard Folayang’s fearsome wushu striking to score a submission victory and a spot in the ONE Lightweight World Grand Prix finals! @Ealvarezfight #WeAreONE #DawnOfHeroes #Manila #MartialArts pic.twitter.com/GsC9RNqL9F
— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) August 2, 2019
Then, Folayang dropped Alvarez with a leg kick and jumped on top of him, landing heavy ground and pound. The ref was inching closer to stop the fight as Folayang kept on landing shots, but Alvarez was doing a good job of moving and looking to defend. Eddie then got ahold of Folayang’s arm which resulted in him reversing the position. There, after some ground and pound of his own, he got ahold of Folayang’s back and submitted him by rear-naked choke in the first round.
It was a tremendous fight and leaves Eddie Alvarez to advance to the Finals where he will take on Saygid Guseyn Arslanaliev later this year.
THE UNDERGROUND KING
AMERICAN KNUCKLE STAR
EDDIE ALVAREZ pic.twitter.com/vQHYbgJ0j2
— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) August 2, 2019
The full results of ONE: Dawn of Heroes
Martin Nguyen def. Koyomi Matsushima via TKO in round 2, (4:40) – ONE Featherweight World Title
Rodtang Jitmuangnon def. Jonathan Haggerty via decision – ONE Flyweight Muay Thai World Title
Eddie Alvarez def. Eduard Folayang via submission in round 1, (2:16) – ONE Lightweight World Grand Prix
Demetrious Johnson def. Tatsumitsu Wada via unanimous decision – ONE Flyweight World Grand Prix
Danny Kingad def. Reece McLaren via split decision – ONE Flyweight World Grand Prix Semi-final
Rodlek PK.Saenchaimuaythaigym def. Andrew Miller via KO in round 3, (0:49) – ONE Super Series Muay Thai
Yuya Wakamatsu def. Geje Eustaquio via KO in round 1, (1:59) – ONE Flyweight World Grand Prix Reserve
Dae Sung Park def. Honorio Banario via unanimous decision
Daichi Takenaka def. Leandro Issa via TKO in round 3, (1:39)
James Nakashima def. Yushin Okami via unanimous decision
Xie Bin def. Edward Kelly via technical decision
Miao Li Tao def. Pongsiri Mitsatit via unanimous decision
Ayaka Miura def. Samara Santos via submission in round 2, (0:39)
Muhammad Aiman def. Sunoto via unanimous decision
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The Scrap’s Cole Shelton is a full-time MMA writer for various news outlets. Make sure to follow Cole on Twitter (@ColeShelton91) for a variety of content.
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