Fabricio Andrade not ruling out a submission victory over John Lineker in rematch

Fabricio Andrade is known for his spectacular knockouts, but the Brazilian star wouldn’t shy away from going to the ground in his upcoming rematch with former ONE bantamweight world champion John ‘Hands of Stone’ Lineker.

The pair will meet once again with the vacant ONE bantamweight world title on the line in front of a raucous crowd at the iconic Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok. Ahead of their highly anticipated main event clash on February 24, Fabricio Andrade spoke about how he sees the fight playing out.

While he would like to test his submission skills against Lineker, ‘Wonder Boy’ will likely lean on his hands to get the job done once again:

“I'd like to grapple as well,” Andrade told the South China Morning Post. “I have good memories of Bangkok. My first submission was there. But it is what I like to do, and I think it is what the fans would like to see, so I'm going to knock him out.”

Fabricio Andrade’s lone submission under the ONE Championship banner came against Mark Abelardo at ONE: No Surrender in July 2020. It was the promotional debut of ‘Wonder Boy’ and just the beginning of a run that is seemingly destined to lead Andrade to a ONE world championship.

Will ‘Wonder Boy’ capture 26.4 pounds of gold or will John Lineker’s ‘Hands of Stone’ be too much to overcome?

Watch the interview below:

---

Fabricio Andrade considers his first fight with John Lineker a loss

Fabricio Andrade failed to walk out of his ONE on Prime Video 3 main event against John Lineker with a win on his record. That alone was enough to consider the bout a loss in his eyes. Narrowly escaping with his first ONE world title victory, an ill-placed knee by Andrade landed low, smashing Lineker’s protective gear in the process.

Writhing in pain, ‘Hands of Stone’ was unable to continue, resulting in a no-contest.

Speaking to SCMP MMA, Andrade believes that a no-contest is the same as a loss because the result is the same. He walked out without a win and without a ONE world title:

"Yeah, it's a loss, because you prepare for three months, you get ready to fight all this and stuff. I wanted to go there and then I wanted to have a win on my record. If I don't have that then it's a loss."

‘Wonder Boy’ will get the opportunity to rectify the situation on February 24 when he once again squares off against John Lineker for the ONE bantamweight world championship at ONE Fight Night 7. Fans in North America can watch the highly anticipated rematch live and for free on Amazon Prime Video is U.S. primetime.