Fabricio Andrade says teammate Artem Belakh needs “one or two more wins” before he can challenge him for gold

Former ONE bantamweight MMA world champion ‘Wonder Boy’ Fabricio Andrade will face anyone in the ring, be it friend or foe. He is even willing to fight Tiger Muay Thai training partner and teammate Artem Belakh.

Belakh is currently the no.4-ranked bantamweight MMA contender in ONE Championship and is quickly rising through the ranks.

The Russian star is 2-1 in the world’s largest martial arts organization. He joined the promotion in October of 2022, beating Leandro Issa and then losing to Kwon Won Il a year later.

Belakh’s latest victory, a second-round technical knockout victory over veteran Enkh-Orgil Baatarkhuu, is proof that the 28-year-old Russian is more than a capable opponent for anyone he’s in the ring with.

Andrade understands this, which is why he wouldn’t be surprised if Belakh somehow makes his way into world title contention.

Speaking to the South China Morning Post in a recent interview, Andrade talked about Belakh and what the Russian needs to do to advance his career.

‘Wonder Boy’ said:

“He lost to Kwon. Kwon knocked him out, so it was very convincing that Kwon was better than him in that fight. His last fight he got a good win, a very, very impressive win, but he didn't get a top opponent. He needs one or two more wins against top opponents then he would be a guy to fight for the title.”

Needless to say, a showdown between Andrade and Belakh, friends and training partners, would be absolutely epic.

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Fabricio Andrade not in a rush to move to featherweight just yet

Fabricio Andrade is big and strong for a bantamweight, which makes a move to featherweight likely in the future. However, ‘Wonder Boy’ says he is perfectly content staying put as of now as he looks to defend his world title more times in the future.

Plus, the weight factor isn’t quite there yet for ‘Wonder Boy’.

Andrade added:

“You know, right now my weight is kind of like low, you know, I'm not getting very heavy, before I was constantly thinking about moving up a weight, but my weight kind of like got stuck now, so I don't think right now would be a smart move to go up.”