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#2. ONE Championship has not seen a rivalry of this kind
Most of the great rivalries in ONE Championship were made out of a genuine pursuit of greatness. Two great fighters pursuing gold clashed in the ring and put on such a highly competitive contest that fans had to see it again.
Rivalries like Joshua 'The Passion' Pacio vs. Yosuke Saruta and Xiong Jing Nan vs. Angela Lee followed the same narrative. Drama was stirred and hype was generated through the fights and the fights alone. A little bit of banter was thrown on social media but nothing too scathing.
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This rivalry between Fernandes and Lineker is different as the drama was created not in the ring, but in social media first.
Never has ONE Championship seen two fighters who are at each other's necks even before they met in the cage. That's why they created an event with 'Bad Blood' as its name. It's truly the first of its kind in the organization.
#1. The bad blood is real between the two fighters
Now, this is the major indicator that this would be a rivalry for the ages. Real bad blood.
If you look at the greatest rivalries in MMA history, almost all of them are rooted in something personal. McGregor-Diaz, Lidell-Ortiz, Usman-Covington and the list goes on.
There's nothing like a genuine dislike for someone to push a fighter to perform above and beyond his limits. We've seen fighters change their entire approach to the game just because they want to put away the other person so badly. Great champions come out of great rivalries. And most of the time, it's their personal hatred for their opponents that allowed them to transcend.
Yes, duds like Jackson-Evans exist, but for the most part, personal rivalries produce moments that can potentially change the sport altogether. We have a whole library of fights to prove it.
In the end, however, it's the fans who are the true winners in these kinds of competitive conflicts. We will be treated to some epic fights that will not soon be forgotten. February 11 can't come any sooner.
Watch this virtual face-off video by ONE Championship to feel the hype:
