Fabricio Andrade shares why he thinks he lost the first fight with John Lineker

Fabricio Andrade may be technically unbeaten in ONE Championship, but his last trip to the ONE circle stung like a loss.

Leaving the arena without a win or a world title around his shoulder, the ONE bantamweight world championship remained vacant due to a no-contest ruling stemming from an inadvertent groin strike against Lineker.

Speaking to the South China Morning Post about how the fight sat with him, Fabricio Andrade had this to say:

"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."

Check out the full interview below:

Fabricio Andrade performed well against Lineker in their two-and-a-half rounds of fighting, but he doesn’t take stock of moral victories if the result doesn’t follow.

Fortunately for Andrade, he won’t have to wait long to get the bad taste out of his mouth. He’s scheduled for five more rounds to try to get the win against John Lineker on February 24 in Bangkok, Thailand.

Lineker is a former world champion at bantamweight, however, the Brazilian lost the belt due to missing weight before their last meeting. He’ll be just as motivated to come back stronger against Andrade and reinstate himself as the world champion as well.

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Fabricio Andrade wonders when age will catch up to John Lineker

The skills of the two Brazilians may size up similarly between Fabricio Andrade and John Lineker, but there are other sizable differences on paper.

Fabricio Andrade is three inches taller, has four more inches in reach, and is seven years younger than the former world champion Lineker.

That age gap is something that Andrade sees as a possible advantage in their fight later this month: In an interview with the South China Morning Post, 'Wonder Boy' said:

“As a fan - because I've been following him for a long time - I think, yes, he had too many fights. And he's been fighting from a young age. And that definitely makes a difference. Because this is not an easy sport.”

In terms of fights, John Lineker outnumbers Andrade by thirty-four total professional MMA fights. Interestingly. while he has been submitted in two of his nine losses, he’s never been knocked out in any of his forty-five fights.

Fabricio Andrade believes that will have to change at some point, especially with Lineker’s aggressive style. The two will fight in the main event of ONE Fight Night 7 on February 24 at Bangkok’s Lumpinee Boxing Stadium.

The event will stream live and for free on Prime Video in US prime time for fans in North America with an Amazon subscription.