John Lineker hails Fabricio Andrade as "one of the toughest challenges" in his career

John Lineker has fought a long list of greats in the lighter weight classes of MMA, but his stiffest test may be in front of him now.

Set to face Fabricio Andrade later this month, Lineker is finishing up a training camp set on doing what he couldn’t a few months ago in Kuala Lumpur - take him out. The hours are winding down to see what Lineker’s been up to in camp, and in the meantime, Lineker took time to speak to Sportskeeda about Fabricio Andrade and how he compares to other opponents he’s faced.

This is what he had to say:

“I've had many tough fights. So I can say that Andrade was one of the toughest challenges I faced. I've already had quite tough fights, but Andrade gave me a lot of work.”

John Lineker holds Andrade- who is twenty-five years old and has eleven professional fights- in high regard.

Lineker made his professional MMA debut in 2008, fighting up to a 19-5 record regionally in Brazil. He was one of the first flyweights brought into the UFC in 2012 and certainly helped build the promotion’s new division.

Around the time Fabricio Andrade was making his professional debut in 2014, John Lineker was fighting in his ninth UFC fight. He took out respected names like Rob Font, John Dodson, and Marlon Vera while there.

Now forty-five fights deep into his MMA career, he’s seen it all. Still in his prime at thirty-two years old, he has the chance to prove himself against the next generation of fighters by triumphing over Fabricio Andrade on February 24.

Jeremy Pacatiw believes John Lineker was too focused on one-punch KO in first Andrade fight

Fellow ONE Championship fighter believes Lineker should slow things down in the rematch with Andrade.

ONE bantamweight Jeremy “The Juggernaut” Pacatiw believes John Lineker developed tunnel vision in their 2022 encounter, rushing forward too much.

Speaking to media outlet The MMA Superfan, Pacatiw said,

“Yeah, I think that’s what happened. Lineker was too eager to land that one-hit knockout and that eagerness proved to be bad for him. He was too focused on connecting a big punch and thinking ‘I want to knock him out’ that he forgot his game plan. Sometimes when you rush things, it makes you vulnerable to your opponent’s punches.”

While John Lineker is generally credited with holding the superior knockout power (over anyone in his weight class), it was Fabricio Andrade that landed the higher volume of strikes with greater effect up until the fight was called off for a foul in round three.

Lineker hasn’t lost often since entering the big leagues over a decade ago- the pressure is on him to make the adjustments to overcome the young blood for the world championship.

ONE Fight Night 7 takes place in Bangkok, Thailand’s Lumpinee Stadium on February 24th. The event airs live and for free in US prime time on Prime Video for Amazon subscribers across North America.