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John Lineker believes his knockout of ONE Championship icon Bibiano Fernandes was the best of his combat sports career.
It would be difficult to argue with Lineker’s sentiments when looking at just how dominant Bibiano Fernandes was inside the circle. Not only did ‘The Flash’ walk into the contest as the ONE bantamweight world champion, but he's also earned 12 victories under the ONE Championship banner and suffered just one defeat over the last decade.
Of course, none of that mattered to John Lineker, who was ready to become a world champion for the first time in his storied MMA career. He did exactly that, delivering a left hook from hell in the second round of their main event clash at the appropriately titled ONE: Lights Out.
In an interview with MMA Sucka, ‘Hands of Stone’ looked back on the jaw-dropping one-hitter quitter, calling it the greatest knockout of his 15-year career:
“This victory certainly meant a lot to me. Without a doubt it’s my favorite knockout, because it was a great battle for the belt. For all that, I put it as my favorite knockout win. It was a moment of great happiness. It was at that moment that I saw that all my effort and all the battles I had faced up until then was worth it.”
John Lineker will attempt to repeat that result on February 24 when he meets Fabricio Andrade for the vacant ONE bantamweight world championship at ONE Fight Night 7 on Prime Video.
John Lineker looking to correct the mistakes he made in his first ONE world title defense
John Lineker’s glorious knockout of Bibiano Fernandes was a career-defining moment. Unfortunately, his first scheduled ONE world title defense became memorable for a much less desirable reason.
Stepping on the scale ahead of his ONE on Prime Video 3 with Fabricio Andrade, Lineker weighed in over the bantamweight limit. As a result, he was stripped of the ONE world title before ever getting the chance to defend it.
The fight proceeded as scheduled but unfortunately ended in a no contest after an ill-placed knee by Andrade rendered Lineker unable to continue.
With an opportunity to reclaim his title in a highly anticipated rematch, Lineker has chosen to ignore all the negative comments flung his way and focus on making the improvements he needs to become a two-time ONE world champion.
He told Sportskeeda MMA:
"I tried not to even see the comments. To this day I haven't logged in to see the comments about it. I preferred to focus and correct my mistakes, to show that I'm capable, that what happened was a technical error, a silly mistake on the scales."
Lineker continued, saying:
"Now I have the chance to correct that mistake and prove that I can do it. Losing the title messed me up, but now I'm motivated to get back what's mine."
