“We never trained together” – Fabricio Andrade has no issues about possibly defending belt against teammate Artem Belakh

In some cases, fighting a teammate can cause a rift between friends or gyms but not for ONE bantamweight MMA kingpin Fabricio Andrade.

The Brazilian champ said he has no qualms about possibly defending his crown against Tiger Muay Thai teammate Arten Belakh in the forthcoming future.

Speaking to South China Morning Post, the 26-year-old phenom said:

“No, there's no issues on that. Tiger has been a gym where people come and go all the time and you got a lot of different fighters. We never trained together, but I don't think he's waiting [for a title shot] yet.”

The Russian striker from Krasnodar, is highly regarded as one of the most dangerous bantamweights in the division.

His dominant run in the regional scene, although relatively unknown, sparked the general interest of one of the biggest combat sports organizations in the world.

At the moment, Belakh continues to live up to the hype with a unanimous decision victory over Leandro Issa in October 2022, and a come-from-behind TKO victory against MMA veteran Enkh-Orgil Baatarkhuu, which took place only last month at ONE Fight Night 18.

The lone loss he suffered since joining ONE Championship in 2022, was against top 3 contender Kwon Won Il in June 2023 at ONE Fight Night 11 via TKO.

Belakh, who’s 2-1 under the ONE banner, holds so much promise and will no doubt have some big moments in the division. However, it appears he’s just not there yet. Perhaps a couple more high-level performances and then he’ll be ready for a world title.

---

Fabricio Andrade is excited to be a part of a very busy bantamweight division

It’s safe to say that the bantamweight MMA division is going through the best era in promotion history. Everyone knows it, especially Fabricio Andrade.

The Brazilian phenom has listed some of the best warriors rising out of the woodwork in a recent interview with ONE Championship. Names that pop out are John Lineker, Stephen Loman, Kwon Won Il, and Artem Belakh.

But not only that, the umbrella also extends to the killers prevalent in Muay Thai and kickboxing, such as reigning two-sport world champion Jonathan Haggerty and former divisional king Nong-O Hama.

All these guys have put on pay-per-view-like events with great success, and they’re just getting started. Andrade, for his part, is proud to be a part of a very busy and talented bantamweight division.

He told ONE:

“The division is very busy, and not just in MMA. In kickboxing and Muay Thai, the bantamweight division is also very exciting. In MMA, we have big names like John Lineker, so it’s a division that is very well served by great talents.”