Hiroki Akimoto emerges as a slight favorite against John Lineker in showdown of former champs at ONE 172

ONE 172: Takeru vs. Rodtang is already in the running for ONE Championship's card of the year, thanks to an undercard that features a bantamweight kickboxing slugfest between elite strikers Hiroki Akimoto and John Lineker.

Akimoto, the former ONE bantamweight kickboxing world champion, is out for blood entering his March 23 matchup with the former ONE bantamweight MMA world champion after being on the wrong end of the scorecards in his last three outings. Luckily, he has the fans' support ahead of ONE 172.

The promotion recently held a pick'em poll on their Instagram stories, where fans voted for whom they believe is leaving the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan with the victory. ONE shared the results in an Instagram post and 55 percent of fans expect the Japanese star to win.

Check out the post below:

Their confidence is justified since Akimoto is a great technical striker, hungry to end the only losing streak he has experienced in his otherwise stellar ONE tenure.

However, he will need to be wary of Lineker's power, even in eight-ounce gloves, because the Brazilian great has made a career out of finishing his foes in the blink of an eye.

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John Lineker raring to test himself against Hiroki Akimoto

After a solid run in the Muay Thai ranks in his last three fights, John Lineker is eager to see whether the same success awaits him in kickboxing.

The OCS Jiu-Jitsu affiliate said in an interview with the promotion ahead of his kickboxing debut against Hiroki Akimoto:

"It wasn't really in my plans to do a kickboxing fight. But I'm a fighter, and I'm ready for any fight. Like I said, I like to test myself. So it will definitely be a great test once again."

ONE 172 will be available live via pay-per-view at watch.onefc.com.