"She's very inspiring" - Fabricio Andrade praises longtime friend and atomweight Muay Thai queen Allycia Hellen Rodrigues

ONE bantamweight MMA world champion Fabricio Andrade is happy to see fellow Brazilian fighter and friend Allycia Hellen Rodrigues realize her martial arts dreams. He highlighted how the atomweight Muay Thai queen made her way to the top, which is truly inspiring.

The two champion fighters go far back during their early years of training and competing in Muay Thai in the city of Fortaleza. They have taken practically the same route on their way to becoming world champions under ONE Championship.

Fabricio Andrade moved to highlight this in an interview with Sportskeeda MMA, saying:

"Allycia is such an inspiration, you know. We've known each other for many years since we were very young. She was fighting Muay Thai. I was fighting Muay Thai in Fortaleza, so I've known her for a long time."

He added:

"We could see each other make progress, step by step getting better and now we've both went out of Brazil, we've both signed with ONE Championship, and we're both world champions here. She's very inspiring."

Rodrigues, 25, fighting out of Phuket Fight Club, was last in action on March 8 at ONE Fight Night 20, where she successfully defended the ONE atomweight Muay Thai world title against Spanish challenger Cristina Morales by unanimous decision.

26-year-old Evolve MMA/Tiger Muay Thai standout Andrade, meanwhile, is currently recovering from injury. He vied for the vacant bantamweight kickboxing world title in November at ONE Fight Night 16 but lost by knockout to the division's Muay Thai king, Jonathan Haggerty, in their all-champion clash.

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Fabricio Andrade eyeing featherweight MMA gold to become two-division ONE champion

Brazilian champion Fabricio Andrade is looking to add another championship belt to the ONE bantamweight MMA world title that is already in his possession. He is eyeing going a weight class up at featherweight to realize it.

'Wonder Boy' shared this in an interview with Sportskeeda MMA, saying he wants to continue with his title-winning ways under ONE Championship and is targeting a couple of hardware, including the featherweight MMA title currently held by Tang Kai of China.

Fabricio Andrade said:

"It will be a wonderful opportunity for me to become a two-division world champion. That would be a great dream or goal for me. And I don't think I'll have a lot of disadvantage of moving up."

Tang Kai successfully unified the featherweight MMA belts at ONE 166: Qatar on March 1 after he knocked out erstwhile interim titleholder Thanh Le in the third round of their unification fight.

A replay of ONE 166 is available for free to North American viewers with an active Prime Video subscription.