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ONE bantamweight word title challenger, Fabricio Andrade, could not hide his disappointment further as he walked backstage at the end of ONE on Prime Video 3.
On Friday, October 21, the world watched as Lineker and Andrade slugged out their differences inside the circle at the Axiata Arena in Malaysia. Fans were treated to an all-out brawl right from the opening bell as ‘Wonder Boy’ and John Lineker threw bombs at each other.
By the end of the second round, Lineker’s eye was a hot mess after getting peppered by strikes from the Tiger Muay Thai product. However, he was allowed to continue fighting.
In the next round, 'Hands of stone' looked to be in trouble after absorbing a knee to the body, stopping him dead in his tracks. Andrade took advantage of the same and tried to follow up with another knee to the body as Lineker reeled back to the circle wall.
Unfortunately, the hit was deemed a low blow. Lineker pulled out a broken groin guard to show how hard the blow was. The 34-year-old was still given five minutes to recover, but ultimately said he was unable to continue.
As the result was declared, a dejected Andrade tried to keep his composure and quickly walked to the back.
ONE Championship then caught up with the 25-year-old, who let his frustrations out by throwing his mouthpiece to the ground. An emotional Andrade said:
“It sucks, man. It sucks. I trained so much for this.”
Check out the Instagram post below:
Fabricio Andrade casts doubt on the “broken” cup
The groin is a sensitive part of the body and while it is not allowed to be hit in an MMA match, accidents can happen, like what happened to John Lineker and Fabricio Andrade’s match. As such, a groin guard - commonly known as a "cup" - is essential in protecting this part of a fighter’s body.
As it is made precisely to absorb unintended contact, it shouldn’t be easily broken by a single blow. During a post-fight interview, Fabricio Andrade cast doubt if he was indeed responsible for Lineker’s broken cup:
“He pulled out a broken cup. Nobody can guarantee that was actually from the fight. He was acting like he knew the cup was broken. Honestly, I don’t believe I broke the cup. Maybe it was already broken.”
Here’s a look at John Lineker’s broken cup, as shared by his manager, Alex Davis:
