Fabricio Andrade sees potential bout against former champ Hiroki Akimoto: “Would be a good match in kickboxing”

Even before he takes on Jonathan Haggerty for the vacant ONE bantamweight kickboxing world title in the main event of ONE Fight Night 16 this Saturday, November 3, inside the Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, Fabricio Andrade already has an opponent in mind.

The current ONE bantamweight MMA world champion revealed this in a recent Reddit Ask Me Anything session where he took over ONE Championship’s official account to remind combat sports fans that he will headline the promotion’s latest fight card.

User Yodsanan asked ‘Wonder Boy’ who he wanted to face in the world’s largest martial arts organization by commenting:

What other strikers on the ONE roster would you like to face?

Andrade was quick to respond and immediately named the athlete that he had in mind by replying:

“I think one has the best strikers in the world across every discipline Akimoto would be a good match in kickboxing.”

Screenshot of Fabricio Andrade's Reddit conversation

Hiroki Akimoto was the former ONE bantamweight kickboxing world champion before he was defeated in November 2022. The Japanese superstar is a technical fighter who has accumulated six wins under ONE Championship since making his promotional debut in 2019.

Akimoto holds a win against the likes of Josh Tonna, Kenny Tse, Zhang Chenglong (twice), Qui Jianling, and Capitan Petchyindee, which increased his popularity and made him a sought-after opponent on the roster.

If the 26-year-old Brazilian can eke out a victory against the ONE bantamweight Muay Thai world champion Haggerty in their champion-versus-champion showdown, then he can easily call for a match with Akimoto for his world title defense of the bantamweight kickboxing throne, and ONE Championship could easily book it in 2024.

Andrade, though, needs to fully focus on getting the victory first against the reigning ONE bantamweight Muay Thai world champion for this dream matchup to materialize.

ONE Fight Night 16 Haggerty vs. Andrade on Prime Video will air live on US Primetime free of charge for existing Prime Video subscribers in North America.