Asa Ten Pow confident he’ll have John Lineker’s number in Denver: “I’ll nullify a lot of what he’s going to be doing”

Asa Ten Pow is confident he can nullify John Lineker's best weapon — his knockout power. This Friday night, Sept. 6, 'The American Ninja' and the former ONE bantamweight MMA world champion will return to the circle after a couple of lengthy layoffs when ONE Championship heads back to 'The Mile High City' for a loaded ONE 168: Denver card.

Emanating from Ball Arena, Ten Pow will make his fourth promotional appearance when he welcomes 'Hands to Stone' to the art of eight limbs.

Though this will be Lineker's first time competing in Muay Thai, the MMA icon will likely have a significant power advantage over his opponent. Despite that, Ten Pow is confident that he can shut down Lineker's game plan en route to scoring his third-straight victory inside the circle.

“I think I’ll nullify a lot of what he’s going to be doing anyway so he might not be able to showcase everything that he wants to do,” Ten Pow told the promotion.

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Asa Ten Pow looks to keep his streak alive against always-dangerous John Lineker

It's been nearly a year since Asa Ten Pow last competed in ONE, with his most recent appearance coming at ONE Fight Night 14 last September. On that night, 'The American Ninja' secured a third-round knockout against Rambolek. Before that, he KO'd Chinese standout Han Zi Hao at ONE Fight Night 9.

Lineker, on the other hand, has competed in 2024, though that appearance came all the way back at ONE 165 in January. 'Hands of Stone' stepped in to fight Japanese MMA icon Shinya Aoki on just one hour's notice — being pulled from the crowd to replace 'Super' Sage Northcutt in a fight that gave new meaning to the term 'short notice'.

As expected, Lineker came up short against Aoki, but before that he landed back-to-back finishes against Kim Jae Woong and Stephen Loman to keep himself near the top of the bantamweight top five.

Will John Lineker find success in his Muay Thai debut, or will Asa Ten Pow spoil the former champion's venture into a new sport?

Follow this link for tickets for ONE 168: Denver on September 6 at Ball Arena.