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Fabricio Andrade knew he needed just one opportunity to become one of the world’s best fighters.
That opportunity came in the form of a ONE Championship debut back in 2020. Since that fateful first fight, Andrade became the ONE bantamweight MMA world champion and is now on the path to becoming a two-sport world champion.
Andrade will face ONE bantamweight Muay Thai world champion Jonathan Haggerty in the main event of ONE Fight Night 16 this Friday at the historic Lumpinee Boxing Stadium.
The two world champions will collide for the vacant ONE bantamweight kickboxing world title in the Bangkok card.
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In an interview with FightWave, Andrade recalled how ONE Championship gave him the avenue to go beyond his perceived potential and reach a financial and professional status that he’d only dreamt of having before.
He said:
“Man, ONE Championship is the reason why I’m here. They gave me opportunities when I didn’t know what would be of my future. They gave me an opportunity to show my skills, that’s why I’m here today, and that’s why people know me. Also the financial side, they changed my life, today I have things that I just wanted to dream about before you know.”
Andrade made his way to ONE Championship in July 2020 and quickly showed his potential when he submitted Mark Abelardo with a rear-naked choke in the second round of their match.
After a unanimous decision win over Shoko Sato, his lone match to see the scorecards, Andrade racked up four straight knockout wins against Li Kai Wen, Jeremy Pacatiw, Kwon Won Il, and ultimately John Lineker for the vacant ONE bantamweight MMA world title.
With such a run of dominance to his name, Andrade quickly became one of the promotion’s top stars.
The 26-year-old also has the chance of becoming just the first MMA world champion to simultaneously hold two world titles if he gets past Haggerty.
ONE Fight Night 16 is available live and for free to all Prime Video subscribers in North America.
Watch Andrade's entire interview below:
