Fights are often billed as having bad blood, but when John Lineker and Fabricio Andrade step into the circle this weekend the rivalry is very real.
\nThe two should have been able to settle the score last October at ONE Fight Night 3.
\nLineker heading into the fight as bantamweight champion but trouble on the scale meant he was stripped of the title – but a win for Andrade would have seen him take home the belt.\u00a0
\nOne misplaced strike to the groin later and we were headed towards a no contest with Lineker unable to recover and for the fight to continue.\u00a0
\nAndrade was adamant he was winning the fight, but Lineker – who had his protective cup broken by the blow – is ready to show the world he is the better of the two Brazilians – and reclaim his bantamweight crown in the process.
\n\u201cI watched my fight against him again,\u201d he said. \u201cInside the cage, it\u2019s one thing. Watching it on TV you have another vision. The fact is that I let him land a lot of jabs, which ended up hurting my face a lot. I wasn\u2019t feeling his punches so much. I wasn\u2019t afraid of his punches, so I took those jabs and ended up getting a pretty bruised face.
\n\u201cThis fight will show that he didn\u2019t beat me and that he wasn\u2019t the one who took my belt. But like I said, none of us have anything to prove. We\u2019re going to enter the cage, do our best, and in the end, we\u2019ll see who will leave with their arms raised.\u201d
\nLineker is known for having some of the heaviest hands in the game, and would have likely have an even more impressive resume than the 35-9-1NC record he holds to date if it were not for some high profile issues with weight management.
\nAhead of this weekend\u2019s clash in Bangkok however, he is supremely focused on the task in hand – and tells fans to expect to see the very best version of the name nicknames \u2018Hands of Stone\u2019\u2019.
\n\u201cI noticed some gaps in [Andrade\u2019s] game. I also noticed his strengths, so in some way, it will help and I certainly won\u2019t take as many hits as I did in the last fight. So, the fact that I\u2019ve already fought him, I believe it can help with some aspects of the fight, like his movement and attacks.
\n\u201cWhen I close my eyes, I see myself imposing my game, going up all the time, nonstop,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s what will happen. I\u2019m training for this. One thing I never do in a fight is back off. I\u2019m going to press all the time, and I\u2019m going to do what I know how to do best, which is to fight.\u201d
\nONE Fight Night 7: Lineker v Andrade takes place Saturday February 25 4am GST at the Lumpinee Boxing Stadium, Bangkok. This is a night not to be missed so mark your calendars, download the ONE Super App, and go to watch.onefc.com now!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Fights are often billed as having bad blood, but when John Lineker and Fabricio Andrade step into the circle this weekend the rivalry is very real.
\nThe two should have been able to settle the score last October at ONE Fight Night 3.
\nLineker heading into the fight as bantamweight champion but trouble on the scale meant he was stripped of the title \u2013 but a win for Andrade would have seen him take home the belt.\u00a0
\nOne misplaced strike to the groin later and we were headed towards a no contest with Lineker unable to recover and for the fight to continue.\u00a0
\nAndrade was adamant he was winning the fight, but Lineker \u2013 who had his protective cup broken by the blow \u2013 is ready to show the world he is the better of the two Brazilians \u2013 and reclaim his bantamweight crown in the process.
\n\u201cI watched my fight against him again,\u201d he said. \u201cInside the cage, it\u2019s one thing. Watching it on TV you have another vision. The fact is that I let him land a lot of jabs, which ended up hurting my face a lot. I wasn\u2019t feeling his punches so much. I wasn\u2019t afraid of his punches, so I took those jabs and ended up getting a pretty bruised face.
\n\u201cThis fight will show that he didn\u2019t beat me and that he wasn\u2019t the one who took my belt. But like I said, none of us have anything to prove. We\u2019re going to enter the cage, do our best, and in the end, we\u2019ll see who will leave with their arms raised.\u201d
\nLineker is known for having some of the heaviest hands in the game, and would have likely have an even more impressive resume than the 35-9-1NC record he holds to date if it were not for some high profile issues with weight management.
\nAhead of this weekend\u2019s clash in Bangkok however, he is supremely focused on the task in hand \u2013 and tells fans to expect to see the very best version of the name nicknames \u2018Hands of Stone\u2019\u2019.
\n\u201cI noticed some gaps in [Andrade\u2019s] game. I also noticed his strengths, so in some way, it will help and I certainly won\u2019t take as many hits as I did in the last fight. So, the fact that I\u2019ve already fought him, I believe it can help with some aspects of the fight, like his movement and attacks.
\n\u201cWhen I close my eyes, I see myself imposing my game, going up all the time, nonstop,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s what will happen. I\u2019m training for this. One thing I never do in a fight is back off. I\u2019m going to press all the time, and I\u2019m going to do what I know how to do best, which is to fight.\u201d
\nONE Fight Night 7: Lineker v Andrade takes place Saturday February 25 4am GST at the Lumpinee Boxing Stadium, Bangkok. This is a night not to be missed so mark your calendars, download the ONE Super App, and go to watch.onefc.com now!<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272958"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=272958"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272958\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":272959,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272958\/revisions\/272959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=272958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=272958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=272958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}