Fabricio Andrade says fans can expect a barnburner in rematch with John Lineker

Whilst the fight may have ended in disappointing fashion, there can be no debate that while it lasted, Fabricio Andrade versus John Lineker lived up to the hype. Andrade has said that his rematch with Linekar would be another riveting affair.

At ONE on Prime Video 3 last October, the two Brazilians met in the main event with the vacant bantamweight world championship on the line. The fight was a great entertaining watch that seemed to be slipping away from Lineker tll an unintentional low blow to the former champion caused an abrupt ending.

Ruled a no contest once Lineker couldn’t continue, everyone knew that they would need to run it back. Considering good the first fight was, who wouldn’t want to see it again?

While Andrade may carry the weight of needing to produce a similar performance once again, he's excited for the match-up. In an interview with SCMP MMA, ‘Wonder Boy’ said:

“I just hope everybody is as excited as I am and don't miss the fight on the 24th of February for fans in America and the 25th of February for our fans in Asia. It's going to be a good one. If you watched the first one, you know it and I'm really going to put on a show for everybody.”

Watch the full interview below:

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Fabricio Andrade on why he thinks he lost first fight with John Lineker

Fabricio Andrade has been victorious every time he stepped inside the Circle, and he was seemingly on his way to that last time out. Unfortunately, it ended up as the only blemish in Andrade's run in ONE Championship thus far.

Despite his great performance against Lineker at ONE on Prime Video 3, the no contest result took the glory away from Andrade. That, however, doesn’t mean that he didn’t get the praise that his performance deserved.

While he was happy with his performance on the night, Andrade sees the fight as a loss. That's because he went into the fight with one goal in mind - to leave as the bantamweight world champion - which he failed to do.

In an interview with the South China Morning Post, Andrade spoke about the lasting impact of his first fight with Lineker:

"Yeah, it's a loss, because you prepare for three months; you get ready to fight all this and stuff. I wanted to go there, and then I wanted to have a win on my record. If I don't have that, then it's a loss."

At ONE Fight Night 7 on February 24, Andrade will get the chance to put that right when he faces Lineker once again with the bantamweight world championship on the line.

If he produces a similar performance like last time, it’s difficult to imagine Lineker winning back his world championship after being stripped of it on the scales. This time, Andrade will look to ensure that he gets his hand raised and walks away with the title wrapped around his waist.

Watch them run it back at ONE Fight Night 7 on February 24, live and for free on Prime Video for all Amazon subscribers across North America.