“It was a tough year for me” – Fabricio Andrade reflects on turbulent ONE Championship run last year

With 2024 already underway, ONE bantamweight MMA world champion Fabricio Andrade has been reflecting on the past 12 months.

He closed out the year with one win and one defeat in 2023, and while he may have failed to become a two-sport world champion, it was still the year that he claimed the bantamweight crown at long last.

‘Wonder Boy’ is able to take both positives and negatives with him into a fresh start with the year ahead and the challenges that it brings. The Brazilian was no stranger to adversity throughout the year, as he revealed in an exclusive interview with Sportskeeda MMA.

However, above all else, Andrade is proud that he was able to fight through all of that to compete twice under the ONE Championship banner:

“I think it was a tough year for me. I wasn’t fully recovered, but I was able to fight and I was able to become a world champion. It was a tough year, not just because of my performance inside the cage, but the decisions I had to make outside of it.”

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There are some big positives to take from 2023 for Fabricio Andrade

Though he may look back at the past year as one of difficulty both inside and outside the Circle, you can’t deny what Fabricio Andrade did in 2023. Ending the year on a loss won’t overshadow the incredible display he put on at ONE Fight Night 7 to definitively beat John Lineker and win the bantamweight title.

All of the difficulties he faced are now in the rearview mirror as Andrade looks ahead to the challenges that will come his way over the next 12 months. Fans can expect to see the best of ‘Wonder Boy’ when he returns to the bantamweight division to defend his crown for the first time.

At just 26 years old, the highs and lows will all help to shape his legacy in ONE Championship.