Bantamweight MMA king Fabricio Andrade on why he won’t chase two-division supremacy at this stage of his career

While many fighters often dream about moving across weight divisions to win multiple world titles, it’s a different story for reigning and undisputed ONE bantamweight MMA world champion ‘Wonder Boy’ Fabricio Andrade.

The 26-year-old from Fortaleza, Brazil says he is confident in staying put at bantamweight, and minding his own lane. ‘Wonder Boy’ believes having this singular focus on the task at hand keeps him laser focused on his goals, which often gets muddled by the amount of pressure there is on fighters to win belts across different weight classes.

In a recent interview with the South China Morning Post, Andrade talked about the possibility and likelihood of him moving up and down in weight someday.

The Tiger Muay Thai and Evolve MMA athlete stated:

“Of course in the future, I might get bigger. I could also go down [in weight] but going down is very hard. You’ve got to stay [disciplined] and you're going to be worried about your weight all the time. I think going down is possible but right now I need to stay focused on the bantamweight division.”

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Fabricio Andrade believes Kwon Won Il could be his next bantamweight MMA challenger

Andrade is currently in rest and recovery mode right now, healing up from injuries he suffered after his kickboxing world title bout against Jonathan Haggerty late last year.

Speaking of making a return, Andrade is fully expected to come back later in 2024 to defend his bantamweight MMA gold, and the 26-year-old knows who could be next in line to challenge for the throne.

In the same interview with the South China Morning Post, Andrade says South Korean slugger Kwon Won Il may have earned a rematch.

‘Wonder Boy’ said:

“Yeah I mean he come from good wins, you know, I think it's between him and Lineker but I fought Lineker two times in a row, you know, back-to-back, so if we go back now it's going to be 3 MMA fights that I only fight against him, so Kwon definitely could be the next contender for the belt and he got good wins you know he finished two good opponents and yeah he's calling me out a lot.”