John Lineker looking to play to his strengths in rematch with Fabricio Andrade

John Lineker is confident that in his next fight, his hands will do the talking for him.

At ONE Fight Night 7 on Prime Video, the former world champion will face Fabricio Andrade in a rematch in which he has a lot to prove. In their first fight, Lineker was unable to display his devastating power and lost the majority of the striking exchanges to the younger and faster Brazilian.

After needing to adapt his game plan last time out in order to stay in the fight, Lineker says that he will return to what won him the world championship in the first place for the rematch.

With 17 professional wins by knockout, ‘Hands of Stone’ is not just a perfect nickname for him, it’s a warning to his opponents. Speaking exclusively to Sportskeeda, John Lineker had this to say about his intentions going into February 24:

“I'm going up to the cage to do my game, which is striking, and I'm going to get the knockout. But if I see that the fight isn't good for me, I'll change the strategy and put him down. Everything will depend on the striking, if I'm going to be able to play my game. I'm working on that.”

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“I wasn't in my best shape” - John Lineker vows to be in better form heading into rematch with Fabricio Andrade

In his next fight, former ONE bantamweight world champion John Lineker has the opportunity to rebound from his toughest fight inside the circle.

Whilst he didn’t lose to Fabricio Andrade at ONE on Prime Video 3, if it wasn’t for an unintentional low blow, many believe that likely would have been the case.

Instead, the fight was stopped once John Lineker couldn’t continue, ending in a no contest that has given ‘Hands of Stone’ an opportunity to come back stronger in their rematch.

One of the factors that Lineker believes impacted his performance negatively was his physical shape. In a recent interview, he told Sportskeeda:

“Andrade is very fast, precise. But in that fight, I felt I wasn't in my best shape. I was slow, I couldn't find it. Now the work is different. And I think that if I had my speed and precision, the [first] fight would be different. But I don't take credit away from him, because he has good accuracy and is fast.”

Before their first fight got underway, it was already turning into a rough week for John Lineker. He was stripped of his world championship on the scales due to missing weight.

Already facing an uphill battle, Andrade seemed to have an answer for everything Lineker threw at him, which puts a lot of emphasis on the former world champion for the rematch.

In the main event of ONE Fight Night 7 on Prime Video on February 24, John Lineker has the opportunity to put everything right and prove that he is still the best bantamweight in the division.

The highly anticipated rematch between the two, as well as the whole ONE Fight Night 7 card, is available live and for free to all Prime Video subscribers in North America.