“It’s just the beginning” - Fabricio Andrade reflects on the long road he took in defending his throne against Kwon Won Il at ONE 170

It may have taken quite a while, but Fabricio Andrade returned to re-establish his presence as one of the best fighters on the planet. The Brazilian knockout merchant retained the ONE bantamweight MMA world title when he folded familiar foe Kwon Won Il at ONE 170 in January at Impact Arena in Bangkok.

The match was Andrade's highly anticipated return to action after missing the entire 2024 due to injuries and recovery.

Following his sensational world title defense, Andrade took to Instagram to reflect on the long road he had traveled and remind fans that he's always been one of the most terrifying strikers in the game.

Fabricio Andrade wrote he's only at the start of his journey to becoming an absolute all-timer with ONE Championship:

"Throwback to fight week, the victory was not just built on fight night, but in the entire camp [before] it, dealing with injuries, 2 years out of an MMA fight, months of hard training, months of perfect dieting and so much more, thank you God for keeping my spirit strong and hungry every day to keep pushing my limits, it's just the beginning! #gratitude #thanksgod #wonderboy #andstill"

Andrade is one of this generation's most exciting fighters, and his performance against Kwon at ONE 170 was a testament to his reputation as a fearsome knockout machine.

In an eerily similar finish to their first fight in 2022, Andrade blasted Kwon with a surgical liver shot that quickly finished the South Korean slugger 42 seconds into the opening round.

ONE Championship has yet to officially announce Andrade's next world title challenger, however, 'Wonder Boy' has always called out number two bantamweight MMA contender Stephen Loman for a possible showdown.

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Fabricio Andrade breaks down his sub-minute knockout of Kwon Won Il

Kwon Won Il is a certified menace with his boxing, and Fabricio Andrade knew he had to fight fire with fire when he met the South Korean knockout machine for the second time at ONE 170.

In his post-fight interview with ONE Championship commentator Mitch Chilson, Andrade said:

"I thought he was going to shoot for the takedown. But I didn’t expect him to strike and come forward. I thought he would strike going backward and then shoot for takedowns. But when I saw that he came to fight, so I needed to fight fire with fire."