“Memories will last forever” - Bibiano Fernandes soaks up the moments with ONE’s past and present world champs at ONE 172

Bibiano Fernandes is undoubtedly one of the most important fighters in ONE Championship history, and he looked back at his time in the promotion in one the most heartwarming gestures a fighter could ever take.

The former ONE bantamweight MMA world champion was inducted into the ONE Championship Hall of Fame during ONE 172 on Sunday at the historic Saitama Super Arena.

The morning after his ceremony, Fernandes met with his contemporaries and current ONE Championship stars to reminisce about his time in the promotion over breakfast.

Those who joined Fernandes are former ONE lightweight MMA world champions Shinya Aoki and Eduard Folayang, former ONE flyweight MMA world champion Adriano Moraes, former ONE featherweight MMA world champion Honorio Banario, and former ONE bantamweight MMA world champion John Lineker.

Joshua Pacio, the ONE strawweight MMA world champion, Jonathan Di Bella, the ONE interim strawweight kickboxing world champion, and rising star Adrian Lee also joined the gathering.

Fernandes posted:

"10 years from now, I will remember asking all these fighters during breakfast to gather to take this photo. These memories will last forever. Breakfast is for champions. ⚡️"

Aoki, Folayang, Banario, and Fernandes were instrumental in leading ONE Championship's charge in the early 2010s and helped shape the promotion to what it is today.

Moraes, Pacio, and Lineker continued that success in the latter part of the decade and during the pandemic era, while Di Bella helped elevate the promotion's kickboxing landscape.

Lee, meanwhile, is starting to carve his own path in ONE Championship while slowly stepping away from the shadows of his older siblings Angela, the inaugural ONE women's atomweight MMA world champion, and Christian, the ONE lightweight and welterweight MMA world champion.

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Old rival Kevin Belingon happy to see Bibiano Fernandes get inducted into ONE Championship Hall of Fame

Kevin Belingon and Bibiano Fernandes shared one of the fiercest rivalries in ONE Championship when they fought over the ONE bantamweight MMA world title in the mid to late 2010s.

That animosity only stayed in the cage, though, and Belingon has nothing but love for Fernandes' induction into the ONE Championship Hall of Fame.

In an interview with ONE Championship, Belingon said:

"I'm so happy for Bibiano Fernandes. He truly earned it. He's one of the pioneers of this organization, he was one of the faces of the early years of ONE Championship, and he truly dominated the division for the longest time."