“I already played it out” - Fabricio Andrade reveals he has been looking to fight John Lineker since day one

The young and powerful striker Fabricio Andrade has had his eyes on John Lineker for quite some time. Brazil's 'Wonder Boy' recently revealed that 'Hands of Stone' has always been on his radar.

While speaking to with Andrew Whitelaw in an interview for Asian MMA, the 25-year-old athlete explained:

"Yeah. When he went out of UFC and signed with ONE, even though I was not signed with ONE, I wanted to sign with them already at that time. So when he went to ONE, in my mind I was like, 'one day, I'm going to sign with ONE, and then I'm going to fight him.'"

This is also why Andrade has adamantly called out 'Hands of Stone' for a match. The Brazilian knockout artist Fabricio Andrade continued:

"There's a lot of stuff that I don't tell everyone. But in my mind, I already played it out, everything, you know. That's one of the reasons why right after I finished Marc Abelardo, he was the first guy that I called out, it was John Lineker, in a very respectful way."

He has wanted Lineker since day one, and now he will get him. The two Brazilian knockout strikers will collide at ONE on Prime Video 3 on October 21. It will be a five-round main event with the ONE bantamweight world championship on the line.

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John Lineker claims Fabricio Andrade's words are "nonsense"

In the same interview with Andrew Whitelaw, Fabricio Andrade went on to say that he is confident that he is on a higher level striking-wise than John Lineker. The Brazilian explained:

"But he's kind of like, not in his prime anymore. I would say he's still in his prime because he's still young. But I don't believe we are on the same level. I believe I'm on a level above him."

'Hands of Stone' John Lineker has heard all the trash talk and is entirely unbothered by it. In an interview with ONE Championship, Brazil's Lineker explained his point of view:

“None of that bothers me. I take it all in my stride. I think talking is nonsense, we have to resolve it inside the circle. I’m going to show him that you don’t win by talking, but by showing what you’re good at inside the circle.”