“If he went to the second round, he would be pretty destroyed” - Fabricio Andrade knew John Lineker wouldn’t last long

Despite the fight ending in disappointing fashion, Fabricio Andrade proved himself in his fight at ONE on Prime Video 3.

Everything that Andrade had said in the build-up seemed to be coming true, right up until he landed a knee to the groin of John Lineker. 'Hands of Stone' couldn’t continue the fight, and it was declared a No Contest.

At the time of the unintentional foul, Fabricio Andrade was in the ascendancy and had hurt the former champion several times.

In an interview with ONE Championship, Andrade spoke about his pre-fight predictions:

“As I said in the interviews before the fight, if he went to the second round, he would be pretty destroyed because I would land a lot of blows on him. But I wasn't happy when it went to the second round because I wanted to end the fight in the first round.”

In some ways, Andrade’s prediction came true as Lineker was forced to change his gameplan and grapple with ‘Wonder Boy’ in order to recover from the early damage he received.

Once he continued headhunting, Lineker had some success but it was only a matter of time before Andrade found another damaging shot to halt the relentless pressure.

Whilst the bantamweight world championship may lie vacant, many fans are waiting to see Fabricio Andrade get his moment in the spotlight again after coming so close.

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“Having the belt would be very important to me” - Fabricio Andrade back in training for next potential world title fight

After several controversies in the lead up to the main event of ONE on Prime Video 3, Fabricio Andrade vs. John Lineker ended without a conclusive winner and with no current bantamweight world championship.

An illegal knee, albeit unintentional from Andrade, caused a stop to the fight. With John Lineker missing weight going into the contest, the belt now lies vacant.

Fabricio Andrade seemed moments away from capping off a stellar performance in the biggest fight of his career to date, but a poorly placed shot stole the victory away from him. In an interview with ONE Championship, Andrade spoke about what this moment would’ve meant to him:

“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.”

Fabricio Andrade’s pre-fight comments were proven in the main event of ONE on Prime Video 3. Whilst the fight may have ended in disappointing fashion, a rematch between Lineker and Andrade would be a massively anticipated title clash.