“The American audience will see” - Fabricio Andrade eager to defeat a 'big name' like John Lineker 

No.2-ranked bantamweight Fabricio Andrade intends to become a household name in North America once the dust settles at ONE on Prime Video 3 on October 21.

‘Wonder Boy’ is hellbent on dethroning reigning ONE bantamweight world champion John Lineker in the main event of the stacked card, which emanates from Axiata Arena in Kuala Lumpur, live via Prime Video.

Aside from giving ‘Hands of Stone’ his first loss inside the circle, the 25-year-old Tiger Muay Thai prodigy even wants to become the first fighter to knock him out.

It’s a steep task for anyone, but Fabricio Andrade has the utmost belief in his own capabilities. If the young Brazilian does the unthinkable, no doubt he’ll earn the respect of the massive North American audience, who’s no stranger to Lineker’s fight-ending prowess.

In the buildup to the biggest fight of his life, Fabricio Andrade talked about expanding his fan base by destroying the 145-pound divisional king. He told ONE Championship in an exclusive interview:

“Lineker already has a name in America. So, when I fight him and knock him out in the first round – which no one has done yet – the American audience will see the difference in my level compared to all these fighters."

Fabricio Andrade has been building himself up non-stop since getting the No.1 contender status. Then again, the brash young fighter does walk the talk.

Five fighters have tried to serve him a piece of humble pie inside the circle. However, each one of them has failed, as Andrade only grew his legend by winning those bouts in an impressive manner.

He barely took any damage in his last three outings, easily dispatching Li Kai Wen, Jeremy Pacatiw, and Kwon Won Il in less than a round to secure his world title shot against his compatriot.

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Fabricio Andrade had John Lineker in his sights all along

Even before he signed with ONE Championship in 2020, Fabricio Andrade has always had this fascination of fighting one of the most dangerous bantamweight fighters in the world.

John Lineker has developed a reputation as one of the nastiest knockout artists in the smaller weight classes. ‘Wonder Boy’, though, has always wanted to test himself against the best of the best.

He told Asian MMA’s Andrew Whitelaw in an interview:

"Yeah. When he went out of UFC and signed with ONE, even though I was not signed with ONE, I wanted to sign with them already at that time. So when he went to ONE, in my mind I was like, 'One day, I'm going to sign with ONE, and then I'm going to fight him.'"

After putting his heart and soul into becoming the fighter that he is today, Andrade manifested that wish and is now in a position to steal the gold strap from Lineker.

He added:

“In my mind, I already played it out, everything, you know. That's one of the reasons why right after I finished Mark Abelardo, he was the first guy that I called out, it was John Lineker, in a very respectful way."