“Still the toughest guy” – Fabricio Andrade on why John Lineker truly is the bantamweight division’s gatekeeper

The bantamweight run of Fabricio Andrade will always have one name tied to it when you look back at his legacy.

While ‘Wonder Boy’ was making his way up the rankings with destructive performances each time out, a fellow Brazilian sat atop the weight class.

Former champion John Lineker is a ferocious foe for anyone that stood across him inside the Circle, and he’s continued to prove that even after losing his world championship.

Even after Andrade put the final statement on their pair of classic fights by stopping Lineker to claim the vacant title, ‘Hands of Stone’ has bounced right back with a pair of impressive wins over top contenders in the division.

Andrade told the South China Morning Post that Lineker’s win over Stephen Loman at ONE Fight Night 14 showed how he is still a cut above the rest at bantamweight:

“I mean he's the number one contender, you know, nobody can deny it, you know, he beat Loman. Loman was the guy who was in the line to fight for the title, he went there, he beat Lomas he fought Loman before Loman's got a knockout in the later rounds, so nobody can deny that he's one of the contenders, you know, and he's probably still the toughest guy in the division at the moment, you know, nobody has beat him.”

Watch the full interview below:

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John Lineker’s recent wins only make Fabricio Andrade look even better

Aside from his recent fight with Shinya Aoki up a weight class on extremely late notice, Fabricio Andrade remains the only man to defeat John Lineker in ONE Championship.

Not to mention the fact that both of their fights were relatively one-sided in Andrade’s favor, with the only clear setback being the unintentional foul that ‘Wonder Boy’ landed, which caused their first meeting to end in a no-contest.

As Lineker continues to take out the bantamweight contenders who look to earn a title shot by beating him, Andrade can take pride in his performances against the former champion.

The two men are clearly in a category of their own right now amongst the other contenders, and with that in mind, there is only one true bantamweight champion.