ONE Championship announces three world title fights for ONE: Lights Out

ONE: Lights Out, the promotion's fifth event of the year, added two big fights to its card.

ONE Championship officially made the announcement on its Instagram page, saying:

“THREE World Titles will be on the line at ONE: LIGHTS OUT on 11 March! 👊💥 Stay tuned for the full fight card 👀 @thanhlemma @garrytonon @bibianofernandes @johnlinekermma @pajanchay_pk @joseph_lasiri_official #ONELightsOut”

It was previously announced that ONE: Lights Out would be headlined by ONE featherweight world champion Thanh Le defending his crown against No.2-ranked featherweight Garry Tonon.

Now, it looks like we will also finally see the much-anticipated match between Bibiano Fernandes and John Lineker for the ONE bantamweight world title. Their headlining bout at ONE: Bad Blood last week was pulled out of the event after Lineker tested positive for COVID-19.

Also added to the card is the ONE strawweight Muay Thai world title match between Prajanchai and No.3-ranked Joseph Lasiri.

This will be Prajanchai’s first world title defense since capturing the crown from Sam-A Gaiyanghadao in July 2021’s ONE: Battleground. Meanwhile, Lasiri earned his shot by snapping Asahi Shinagawa’s five-fight win streak with a stunning first-round knockout in December 2021’s ONE: Winter Warriors II.

More matches are expected to be announced soon.

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Fernandes-Lineker match gets early rebooking at ONE: Lights Out

While they will now compete at ONE: Lights Out, the bad blood between Bibiano Fernandes and John Lineker has not diminished. Thankfully, they will not have to wait for very long.

Their world title clash was initially set for ONE X in December 2021 before the event was moved to March 26. After their match was pulled out at the last minute, Fernandes desperately tried to find a replacement so that he could compete at ONE: Bad Blood. Unfortunately, it was too late.

Fernandes didn’t want to be away from his family for two more weeks, so he decided to go home instead of waiting for ONE: Full Circle to make his match happen. However, he stayed ready for the imminent showdown with his Brazilian compatriot.

For his part, Lineker also kept himself sharp. Despite testing positive for COVID-19, ‘Hands of Stone’ bared that he did not have any symptoms and went straight back to work.

Now that it’s been made official, the two fighters will hope that their hard work pays off as they put on a show on March 11.