John Lineker makes his pick for Johnson vs. Moraes trilogy fight

Former ONE bantamweight world champion John Lineker made his pick for ONE on Prime Video 10: Demetrious Johnson vs. Adriano Moraes III.

The highly-anticipated trilogy bout will put an end to their storied rivalry in the Circle, as Demetrious Johnson defends the ONE flyweight world championship against former world titleholder Adriano Moraes. Tied 1-1 in the series, MMA fans can all agree that this fight won’t end with a decision.

Ahead of his rematch with Fabricio Andrade, ‘Hands of Stone’ John Lineker weighed in on the subject and predicted the outcome of that match, telling ONE Championship:

“I believe in a victory for Adriano Moraes. He has a better ground game than Demetrious Johnson. I believe he will work well from a distance since he has a bigger wingspan, and he won't let 'DJ' dominate the center of the cage. My bet is that Adriano Moraes will take down 'DJ' and win this trilogy by submission.”

In their first encounter, Moraes defeated ‘Mighty Mouse’ via an uppercut followed by a grounded knee to the head in the second round. ONE Championship’s Global MMA ruleset allows knees to a grounded opponent, which Johnson experienced the hard way.

ONE on TNT 1 was Johnson’s first world title attempt after having a hot three-fight win streak against three of the best athletes in the division by winning the ONE Flyweight World Grand Prix.

Prior to joining the promotion, ‘Mighty Mouse’ had conquered the US scene with 12 consecutive championships before suffering his first loss in seven years, against Henry Cejudo in August 2018.

33-year-old Adriano Moraes hopes lightning strikes again as he looks to avenge his TKO loss against Demetrious Johnson at ONE on Prime Video 10.

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John Lineker recalls pain from broken cup “unbearable” post-event at ONE on Prime Video 5

John Lineker has a rare chance to re-do the past against No. 1 bantamweight contender Fabricio Andrade at ONE on Prime Video 7.

After a disappointing and inconclusive ending to their first match back in October, ‘Hands of Stone’ is looking forward to stepping up his game in their upcoming rematch on February 10, without any accidents.

Folded by an unforeseen knee to the groin, John Lineker recalled that horrible experience in detail in a post-fight interview with ONE and said:

“The pain was unbearable. I thought it would never stop hurting. In addition to the pain, I couldn’t breathe properly. I was quite scared of the pain. My cup broke. It wasn’t just the impact, the blow went through the cup. It took all my strength and my momentum. I already did some tests and, thank God, it was nothing serious.”

Many Lineker fans sympathized with their champion as he writhed in pain inside the circle. However, he didn’t gain much sympathy from Andrade, who later accused Lineker of quitting because he was coming too close to his end.

The rematch, therefore, is going to be a barnburner as both fighters will do whatever it takes to be crowned the bantamweight world champion.