Kairat Akhmetov vs. Adriano Moraes 2 title fight targeted for summer ONE Championship event

Adriano Moraes will get his chance to avenge a controversial loss and recapture the ONE Championship belt this summer.

"Mikinho", who lost the flyweight championship in a close split decision loss to Kairat Akhmetov in November, will rematch "The Kazakh" when he returns to the cage later this year.

"We don’t have a date yet, but it’s on June or July," Moraes’ manager Alex Davis told MMAFighting.com.

Moraes (14-2) won the vacant ONE flyweight title in September 2014, and defended it once before losing to Akhmetov (23-0). The Brazilian bounced back to the win column with a thrilling win over Eugene Toquero in March.

"‘Mikinho’ is a great Brazilian fighter. He was signed by ONE to replace a fighter when he was 10-0 and became champion," Davis said. "He didn’t lose that fight to Kairat, that was a mistake. MMA is still growing in Asia so blatant mistakes still happen, but the promotion recognized the mistake and will give him a title fight."

Prior to his bout with Toquero, Moraes said he had signed one-fight deals with the promotion since he wasn’t champion anymore, and was interested in testing free agency. According to Davis, the flyweight fighter was misinformed.

"He’s mistaken when he says he’s a free agent," said the manager. "He’s not a free agent. He’s still under contract with ONE Championship, and he will bring the belt back to Brazil."