Fabricio Andrade: Fabricio Andrade had trouble coming to terms with how first fight with John Lineker ended

'Wonder Boy' Fabricio Andrade battled 'Hands of Stone' John Lineker for the vacant ONE bantamweight throne in October last year. The bout ended in a no-contest as Lineker was unable to recover from an accidental groin strike.

Speaking in an interview with John Morgan of MMA Underground, Andrade explained how much he struggled to cope with the no-contest ending:

"Yeah, I just had to stop and really try to understand what I was feeling after everything that happened… And then I was like, I felt like I lost the fight so I was really just like really upset with everything, so I had to take a step back and let my emotions go and see how I felt about everything and it is what it is."

Fabricio Andrade and John Lineker will have their highly anticipated world title rematch headlining ONE Fight Night 7 on Prime Video on February 24. All the action from this Friday's card will be broadcast live and for free on Prime Video for all Amazon subscribers across North America.

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Watch the full interview below:

Fabricio Andrade says a world title in ONE is his dream

Fabricio Andrade struggled emotionally to move on from the no-contest result in his first world title match.

Speaking to SCMP MMA, he said:

"In my mind, it was just that I don't have the belt. I don't have the bonus, I don't have anything. And I was so stressed. It took a while for me. I had to step back a little bit and let everything go. It took one, or two months. And now, I'm finally relaxed again."

Almost capturing the ONE bantamweight throne just to have it taken away was particularly hard for the Brazilian fighter, because holding a world title in ONE has been his lifelong dream.

In an interview with ONE Championship, the 25-year-old Brazilian explained:

"I come from a very poor area, in the northeast of Brazil. I started training when I was 13. I always knew that I would fight for ONE, but it took a long time for that to happen. Five years, I was trying to get in here."

About the author

Timothy Wheaton is a combat sports writer who covers MMA, Kickboxing, and Muay Thai. He has been an avid follower of these sports since 2005. Tim Wheaton has been working alongside Sportskeeda MMA proudly with the ONE Championship and UFC teams.

With Sportskeeda MMA, Tim has contributed interviews, thousands of articles, plus videos on YouTube, Snapchat, and Instagram. He has also represented Sportskeeda MMA in person at live UFC events.

Tim also works with a host of other media sites such as Calf Kick Sports, MMA Sucka, Low Kick MMA, Vecht Sport Info, Fighters First, and Beyond Kickboxing. Tim is is the authority on kickboxing and MMA journalist who has covered K-1, PRIDE FC, UFC, GLORY Kickboxing, Bellator, ONE Championship, and plenty more.

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Edited by Aziel Karthak