Fabricio Andrade was moments away from becoming the bantamweight world champion at ONE on Prime Video 3.
Producing a great performance against John Lineker and nearly finishing him, his fight was brought to a sudden and unfortunate end after a knee landed low to Lineker’s groin, resulting in a no-contest.
At ONE Fight Night 7 on February 24, the two dynamic Brazilians will meet in a rematch where Andrade needs to replicate his performance if he wants to see himself crowned as the world champion.
‘Wonder Boy’ has never doubted that he has the skills to be the best fighter in the bantamweight division. However, he has admitted that he made some mistakes that he can correct this time around.
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In an interview with SCMP MMA, Fabricio Andrade said:
“Man, honestly, I think I got a bit pressured. I was just feeling a bit anxious and I wanted to finish the fight really fast.”
He added:
“And I'm sure this fight is going to be different. I'm sure I'm going to perform much better than I did in our first fight.”
Watch the full interview below:
Fabricio Andrade was surprised with how Stephen Loman was able to handle Bibiano Fernandes’ grappling
Fabricio Andrade knows that if he is successful against John Lineker at ONE Fight Night 7 on Prime Video, he will have Stephen Loman waiting for him.
The Filipino fighter has clearly positioned himself as the No.1 contender in the division outside of the two men involved in the vacant title fight on February 24.
At ONE on Prime Video 4, Loman defeated former division king Bibiano Fernandes via a unanimous decision.
After Loman used his grappling to control the majority of the fight against Fernandes, Fabricio Andrade said that he was surprised at the Filipino's success in the fight.
'Wonder Boy' told SCMP MMA:
"If you think Bibiano is a BJJ guy, he's not that good of a wrestler. I was surprised that Loman was able to control Bibiano when they were on the ground. When he was on top, he was able to control, and ground and pound. That was good because Bibiano is good on the ground, but he's not in his prime."
The 25-year-old added:
"It's hard to say, he's like, 40-something now. So like, man, the guy doesn't have the same cardio. He doesn't have the same reaction time. So it's hard to say but he got his shot, he got his shot."
Stephen Loman will be watching the main event on February 24 very closely to identify which of the two Brazilian finishers he will face for the world championship when his opportunity comes around.