Fabricio Andrade is as confident as ever even after his no-contest against John Lineker.
Andrade was so close to winning a ONE Championship world title at ONE on Prime Video 3. ‘Wonder Boy’ repeatedly landed straight punches, closing Lineker's right eye, and ultimately landed a beautiful knee to the body in the third round.
He followed up the knee with another but this one landed below the belt, leaving Lineker in a world of pain. The fight ended in a no-contest, and the weight miss by ‘Hands of Stone’ left the bantamweight division without a world champion. During an interview with ONE Championship, Andrade said this about his confidence after the ONE on Prime Video 3 main event:
“I know I'm the best guy in the division right now. For me, Lineker was the most feared guy at ONE because of his knockout power and his history. I always wanted to fight him because I wanted to prove I was better than him. I knew I was better than him, and I went out there and proved it.”
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Andrade has to fight for the vacant bantamweight world title, regardless of the opponent. A rematch against Lineker makes the most sense, but the recovery time for the former champion is currently unknown.
Watch the knee from Fabricio Andrade that led to the no-contest below:
Fabricio Andrade skipped vacation to start training for next world title fight opportunity
Fabricio Andrade gets confidence from his brutal training routine at Tiger Muay Thai. ‘Wonder Boy’ was supposed to go on vacation after fighting John Lineker, but the Brazilian rising superstar wasn’t satisfied with the result. Andrade had this to say:
“Now, I'm the best bantamweight in ONE and one of the best in the world, so having the belt would be very important to me. I already gave up my vacation to be able to go back to the gym and continue training. Now, I'll wait to find out who will be my opponent for the belt.”
Walking away from the ONE on Prime Video 3 main event without the bantamweight title must have been devastating for Andrade. It’s hard to imagine anyone being able to stop ‘Wonder Boy' from achieving his dream, especially with the added motivation from the no-contest.