ONE Championship announces full Bad Blood card led by long-awaited Fernandes-Lineker rivalry clash

ONE Championship has released its full card for the Bad Blood event on February 11. Looking at the main card alone, it seems like another must-see show.

In the main event, Bibiano Fernandes will step into the ONE Championship Circle for the first time in more than two years to defend his bantamweight belt against fellow Brazilian John Lineker.

This fight has been in the works since late last year. Both men have wasted no time verbally sparring ever since.

The co-main event sees an interim heavyweight title fight between Anatoly Malykhin and Kirill Grishenko. The match, booked out of necessity due to Arjan Bhullar's repeated refusal to defend his belt, was originally slated to cap off ONE: Only The Brave on January 28. However, COVID-19 protocols delayed that plan.

Moving down the card, Jonathan Haggerty is set to resurface in ONE Championship after a two-year absence. He will face Mongkolpetch, his first Thai foe since suffering consecutive losses against flyweight champion Rodtang Jitmuangnon in 2019 and 2020.

Yosuke Saruta is also back for redemption after a failed strawweight title quest in 2021. He will face Gustavo Balart, who is likely itching to start a new winning streak after going through a three-fight skid in 2019.

Jenelyn Olsim will look to get back to winning ways as she takes on Jihin Radzuan in an atomweight MMA fight. Radzuan's only career losses have notably come against Filipino fighters, so that may be added motivation for her to win on February 11.

The main card opens with a strawweight MMA bout between Dejdamrong Sor Amnuaysirichoke and Danial Williams. Dejdamrong has alternated between wins and losses since 2019. He will be looking to start a winning streak at the expense of Williams, who will be competing in his first MMA match in ONE Championship.

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Bad blood, first blood: ONE Championship bantamweight king Bibiano Fernandes looks to start strong in rivalry with John Lineker

Given how Bibiano Fernandes and John Lineker have traded harsh words, one would think that their Bad Blood fight is a final chapter to settle it all.

However, this will be the first meeting between two veterans with a combined 71 professional MMA fights to their names.

ONE Championship CEO Chatri Sityodtong even pulled their bout off the ONE X 10th year super-card just so it can happen earlier.

Speaking on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, Sityodtong said:

"We got Bibiano a fight right away rather than have him wait, right? Let's just get it on."

Tune in to ONE: Bad Blood on February 11 to see who gets the upper hand in this rivalry between two Circle veterans.