Fabricio Andrade "gave up soccer" to pursue a career in martial arts

In a different universe, Fabricio Andrade could be playing in a soccer championship.

The 25-year-old is a natural athlete. MMA is his sport of choice, but it’s not hard to imagine him excelling in other pursuits.

One potential path for Andrade was soccer, which he gave up as a teenager for martial arts. The No.10 contender at bantamweight spoke to ONE Championship about his change in athletic interests and where that’s taken him:

"I gave up soccer the next day and started to dedicate myself only to fighting. From that day, I felt something different, I knew this was what I had to do. I started to get good at it, everyone praised me, and it motivated me every day."

Growing up in Fortaleza, Brazil, Fabricio Andrade took up Muay Thai at age thirteen. His success in the ring (his Muay Thai record is an astonishing 40-3) paved the way to expand his talents in MMA, which would take him from Brazil to Kazakhstan, China, Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand for fights.

Of his eleven professional MMA fights, however, one thing that Andrade is yet to claim is a world championship. The opportunity to do so appeared on its way last October against John Lineker, but a groin strike to Lineker halted the bout and ruled it a No Contest.

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Fabricio Andrade believes winning the world title is inevitable for him

In a few minutes, Fabricio Andrade went from feeling like the bantamweight world championship was his to see it set back on the shelf for an unknown period of time.

Andrade admits that the fallout of his first fight with John Lineker left him feeling stressed, but his confidence that becoming a world champion was not a matter of “if” but “when” kept him motivated.

The Brazilian recently spoke to the MMA Underground about how he reacted to the first fight’s no-contest ruling:

"After the fight, I said I had to just take my head out of it you know, because I was too stressed about everything and I just had to get past all of that stuff. But now I just feel like it’s gonna happen you know, it’s gonna happen. I was asking so many times for the title shot and I kept fighting, knocking people out, it doesn’t happen and then I finally get it and almost knock him out and don’t get the belt just like, ‘damn!’ it’s hard to explain."

Fortunately for Fabricio Andrade, there’s no more waiting, he’s made the weight and is ready to challenge Lineker this weekend for the bantamweight world championship, closing a book that was left open for five months.

Fans in North America can watch Andrade's second attempt at ONE gold at ONE Fight Night 7 live and for free via Prime Video with an active Amazon subscription.