“This is just the beginning” - Fabricio Andrade steps back and reflects on recent fight against John Lineker

Fabricio Andrade fought for the ONE bantamweight world title at ONE on Prime Video 3 against 'Hands of Stone' John Lineker. While It ended in an unfortunate no contest, it certainly affirmed Andrade's goals and skills.

The 25-year-old Brazilian fighter only has 11 professional MMA fights to his name. Despite that, he was able to go toe-to-toe against 44-fight monster John Lineker. While he didn't leave with the title, the fight still strengthened Andrade's resolve and validated his belief in himself.

On Instagram, Fabricio Andrade explained:

"This is only my 11 MMA fight making one of the biggest BW ko punch walk back and desperately shoot for takedowns there’s still a lot to improve and I will keep getting better this is just the beginning."

In the ONE on Prime Video 3 main event, an accidental knee to the groin from Andrade stopped the bout. Lineker's cup was destroyed and he was unable to continue.

Despite the result, many people think Andrade was winning the fight up until the end, with some even suggesting he was set to finish 'Hands of Stone'.

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Fabricio Andrade proud of his performance on Prime Video

'Wonder Boy' Fabricio Andrade feels that he was winning this bout and has reason to believe he will be a world champion as early as 2023.

In his post-fight interview, Andrade assessed how the fight played out, and named what surprised him about Lineker's offense:

“The fight went almost as I expected. I actually expected Lineker to be more aggressive, but he was very cautious. He respected me a lot, he respected my fighting style. He was retreating a lot and waiting for me to attack. I confess that I expected a more aggressive fighter, so I had to change my strategy a bit.”

A series of successful jabs and knees to the body forced John Lineker to shoot for takedowns and try to bring the fight to the ground. It was a competitive back-and-forth match headlining ONE on Prime Video 3.

Even lightweight king Christian Lee thought Andrade was winning. In an interview with The MMA Super-Fan, Lee explained:

“I thought Fabricio Andrade put on an amazing performance. He was looking really sharp out there. He definitely showed that he was the better fighter that night. It’s unfortunate whenever a fight ends in controversy, but if it didn’t end in that fashion and the fight would have continued, I definitely think he would have gotten the finish that night.”

Catch the interview below: