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John Lineker says that he has buried the hatchet with Fabricio Andrade following their stellar ONE Fight Night 7 main event last month.
After fighting to an anticlimactic no-contest in October, ‘Hands of Stone’ stepped into the ring with his bantamweight rival to settle things once and for all under the bright lights of the legendary Lumpinee Boxing Stadium. The two warriors engaged in a four-round war that eventually saw Andrade force Lineker’s corner to throw in the towel to capture his first ONE world championship.
In an interview with ONE Championship, John Lineker revealed that Andrade apologized to him for all of the trash-talking he did ahead of the bout.
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“He also praised me, said that I was a reference for him in the sport and that fighting me was something sensational. He apologized for the provocations, said he did it just to promote the fight, and that he admired me a lot. That's it. I was happy to fight him. People always ask me who was the toughest guy I fought and, for sure, Fabrício is the first on the list [laughs].”
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John Lineker will return to the drawing board while the newly crowned ONE bantamweight world champion will turn his attention to the potential next man in line, Stephen 'The Sniper' Loman.
John Lineker hopes to work his way back to a ONE world title opportunity
John Lineker has every intention of getting back into the main event spotlight and challenging for the ONE bantamweight world title in the future. For now, ‘Hands of Stone’ is content to take a break and consider his next move inside the circle.
“Now I want to recover, rest a little and then I'll talk to my master and my manager. But, without a doubt, I will work to seek another title shot in the future. At the moment, I'm not thinking of having a rematch against Fabrício, but I'm definitely going to work on fighting for the title again.”
The loss to Fabricio Andrade was Lineker’s first defeat since signing with ONE Championship in 2019. At 32 years old, ‘Hands of Stone’ has plenty of potential years to compete at the highest level, and we feel certain that Lineker will be back and better than ever when he makes his return.
Who would you like to see John Lineker square off with in his return to the circle?
