Troy Worthen still believes he's better than Lineker & Saadulaev

Troy Worthen has endured the toughest year of his career following losses to No.1-ranked ONE Championship bantamweight John Lineker and No.3-ranked Yusup Saadulaev.

After signing with the promotion in 2019, Worthen enjoyed a dream start to his ONE career and racked up three straight victories. However, after losing to Saadulaev, 'Pretty Boy' took a fight against Lineker on the day of the weigh-in and suffered his first career knockout.

Worthen had been expecting to take on Shuya Kamikubo who pulled out late. He'll finally get to face the Japanese fighter at ONE: 'Heavy Hitters' on January 14th.

Speaking exclusively to SportsKeeda, Worthen said:

"I've never asked for anything easy. It was a tough year. I still think I'm better than both the guys I lost to. Maybe I'm delusional or maybe I had off nights - I don't know. I guess we'll find out in a couple of weeks."

"But I'm excited. I think having tough fights is just going to make me a better martial artist. And as good as Kamikubo is, and I do think he's an amazing grappler, I don't think he's had the hardest route. He's had the opposite route of me. I've fought all guys who are really highly-touted in ONE and he's fought kind of the mid-tier guys," Worthen added.

'Mid-tier' opposition or not, Kamikubo is in a rich vein of form. The Pancrase veteran has won his last five fights and is undefeated in ONE. Both Worthen and Kamikubo sit outside the top-5 rankings, which is testament to the strength and depth in the ONE bantamweight division.

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Worthen didn't think Lineker 'was that good'

John Lineker is set to compete with Bibiano Fernandes for the ONE bantamweight title at ONE: 'X' next year. Lineker has been scintillating since moving over from the UFC. After winning a unanimous decision against Muin Gafurov on his debut, he finished former champion Kevin Belingon before handing Worthen the first knockout defeat of his career.

Despite getting caught with a straight right hand in the first round, Worthen says he's 'not scared' of the Brazilian and would still fight him on a day's notice. He also noted that 'Hands of Stone' was not as formidable as one might expect in the opening stages of the contest:

"To be completely honest, and this is going to sound crazy, I didn't think he was that good after the first two minutes. I was like 'wow,' I was expecting more feints, more set-ups,' said Worthen. 'He really was just putting his head down, running forward and throwing hooks, which was pretty much expected. He's really good at what he does. I think he's got crazy knockout power and he forces people into brawls but I don't think he did anything special. I think there's quite a few guys in the division that can beat him on the right night. And he could also knock them out on the right night," Worthen continued.

Lineker will have another chance to prove his level when he takes on Fernandes, whilst the likes of Stephen Loman and Fabricio Andrade both grabbed impressive wins at ONE: Winter Warriors Part II. With such fierce competition at the top of the division, Worthen needs to secure an impressive return to winning ways against the formidable Kamikubo if he's to remain in contention.