ONE Fight Night 10: Moraes vs. Johnson III Preview and Predictions

On Friday, May 5, ONE Championship makes promotional history as they hold their first event in North America. The versatile martial arts promotion looks to capitalize on the spotlight by stacking the fight card with their biggest superstars. ONE Fight Night 10 features 11 fights, including seven in MMA, two in Muay Thai, and two in submission grappling.

In the main event, Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson and Adriano “Mikinho” Moraes will fight for a third time with the ONE flyweight MMA championship up for grabs. In their first meeting, Moraes shocked the MMA world by becoming the first fighter to knock out Mighty Mouse. Johnson returned the favor in Aug. 2022, landing a flying knee to dethrone Mikinho.

The co-main event features the second of three world championship fights at ONE Fight Night 10. Rodtang Jitmuangnon holds a promotional Muay Thai record of 11-0, which includes five wins in title fights. “The Iron Man” hopes to continue his reign of terror by defending his flyweight crown against promotional newcomer Edgar Tabares.

The first championship bout of the night comes from the flyweight submission grappling division. Rising superstar Mikey Musumeci is coming off an impressive title defense against Gantumur Bayanduuren. He now finds himself matched up against 2022 IBJJF No-Gi world champion Osamah Almarwai.

Before the three title fights go down inside the sold-out 1stBank Center, fans will be treated to various intriguing matchups, including Roberto Soldić vs. Zebaztian Kadestam in MMA, Reinier de Ridder vs. Tye Ruotolo in submission grappling, and Sage Northcutt vs. Ahmed Mujtaba in MMA.

The two bonus bouts air live on YouTube starting at 7 p.m. ET, followed by the main card on Amazon Prime Video at 8 p.m. ET. Let’s take a look at the preview and predictions.

The trilogy concludes in the main event; which man leaves with ONE flyweight gold, Demetrious Johnson or Adriano Moraes?

Demetrious Johnson and Adriano Moraes have fought twice, with each fighter holding a knockout win against the other. After spending over 26 minutes in the Circle together, Johnson and Moraes have plenty of data to make adjustments for their trilogy bout. Despite there only being a one-year age difference, Mikinho could have the first advantage because Mighty Mouse has been contemplating retirement.

Putting aside all retirement discussions, Johnson and Moraes make a beautiful stylistic matchup, which is why their first two fights were so intriguing. Both fighters are well-rounded, with Mighty Mouse having a slight striking advantage, and Mikinho having a slight grappling advantage. The ONE Fight Night 10 main event will likely come down to who can control the pace and find the perfect opportunity to capitalize on their opponent’s mistakes.

Those two qualities are specialties for Johnson, so he should be able to retain his flyweight world championship with another knockout in the third or fourth round.

Rodtang Jitmuangnon puts his flyweight Muay Thai belt on the line in the co-main event; can Edgar Tabares upset the dominant champion?

Regardless of the outcome, Edgar Tabares is going to have a tough night on May 5. Rodtang Jitmuangnon has emerged as ONE Championship’s biggest superstar, due to his ruthless aggression and legendary durability. Since his promotional debut in Sep. 2018, Rodtang has won all 11 Muay Thai bouts, including five world championship fights.

Tabares plans on shocking the world in his promotional debut at ONE Fight Night 10. The Mexcian-born fighter has shown defensive efficiency in the footage available, but his heart and grittiness lead to success. With that said, Rodtang’s leg kicks and powerful combinations will be too much for the 29-year-old. The Iron Man will secure his first knockout since Jan. 2020.

Mikey Musumeci completely dominated Gantumur Bayanduuren in his last submission grappling match; does Osamah Almarwai fare better when the two men face off?

Mikey Musumeci is a primary reason that submission grappling has skyrocketed in popularity. The 26-year-old has unmatched flexibility, thrilling creativity, and the desire to continue defending his flyweight world championship. On May 5, “Darth Rigatoni” looks to secure his second title defense against Osamah Almarwai, a 2022 IBJJF No-Gi world champion.

Almarwai is physically strong and prefers to work off his back. It’ll be intriguing to see how the match-up against Musumeci plays out, because both competitors prefer to stay on their backs. The primary difference-maker will be Musumeci’s willingness to continue attempting submissions, which is the foundation of the scoring criteria. “Darth Rigatoni” should be able to emerge victorious by unanimous decision.

Which fight is the sleeper match-up on this card?

The sleeper match-up for ONE Fight Night 10 is a welterweight MMA bout between Roberto Soldić and Zebaztian Kadestam.

In 2022, Soldić was one of the most talked about free agents before signing with ONE Championship. Unfortunately, things didn’t go as planned in his promotional debut, which ended in a no-contest after Murad Ramazanov landed an illegal groin shot. Five months later, the former two-division KSW champion looks to get back on track against Kadestam.

Kadestam is a former ONE welterweight world champion. Between 2019 and 2021, ‘The Bandit’ lost three consecutive fights, leading to concerns about his ability to regain the welterweight title. After taking a year off, he returned in 2022 and secured back-to-back first-round knockouts.

On Saturday night, Soldić and Kadestam plan to add another exciting finish to their resume and continue their path to a world championship fight. Don’t blink for this matchup because it likely won’t be going the distance.