ONE Championship: “Continue defending my belt” - Fabricio Andrade says focus right now is to become ONE’s best bantamweight of all time

Fabricio Andrade could look into other weight divisions if he wanted. But if he’s being honest, defending the ONE bantamweight MMA throne is more interesting at the moment.

After dispatching Kwon Won Il in under a minute at ONE 170, Andrade successfully defended his world title for the first time and extended his MMA win streak to seven. Given his splendid track record, the idea of moving up to featherweight has naturally come up, but Andrade is happy taking his time. Speaking with ONE Championship in an exclusive interview, he said:

“Right now, it’s more interesting for me to stay in my weight class and continue defending my belt.”

For Andrade, it’s about building a run that puts him up there with the greats. And at bantamweight, that means chasing the kind of legacy left behind by Bibiano Fernandes, who defended the same belt eight times during his reign.

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Fabricio Andrade speaks about two next possible contenders for his world title

If Fabricio Andrade wants to clean out the division completely, there are still names left on the list, about which he said:

“Even though I’ve already beaten Lineker and Kwon Won, there are still two guys in the rankings that I haven’t fought yet. Enkh-Orgil Baatarkhuu and Stephen Loman."

Of the two, it seems Baatarkhuu has been getting more of his attention. The Mongolian contender recently earned his third straight win with a decision win over Jeremy Pacatiw at ONE Fight Night 29, and Andrade sees the value in that matchup. He noted:

“Mongolian Enkh-Orgil Baatarkhuu, who just beat Jeremy Pacatiw, is a very experienced MMA fighter. He is coming off three straight wins and has fought in the top division, so he is a guy with a lot of experience."

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About the author

Charlene is a MMA writer with 5 years of experience writing content in various formats. She inadvertently fell into the rabbit hole of MMA after she (begrudgingly) joined her friend for a class and ended up enjoying it far beyond her expectations. She has a Bachelor's degree in Psychology and once dreamed of becoming a sports doctor before she found her true calling in writing.

She has ghostwritten for various health, fitness, and martial arts businesses. Despite the busyness of her day-to-day, she occasionally finds the time to practice Boxing and Muay Thai at home with her coach/husband and their many cats as their rapt audience.

She has organized a few local MMA events and aspires to establish her own little gym someday.

Outside of work, Charlene enjoys books, video games, and anime.

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Edited by Subham