"That was crazy" - Fabricio Andrade on John Lineker's eleventh hour fight against Shinya Aoki at ONE 165
ONE bantamweight MMA world champion Fabricio Andrade was shocked by the crazy turn of events during ONE 165, where his former opponent, John Lineker, stepped in on minutes' notice to fight the former ONE lightweight MMA world champion Shinya Oaki in an openweight MMA bout.
Linker was the replacement fighter for Sage Northcutt, who withdrew from the fight because two of his coaches were not allowed to corner him due to visa issues. Andrade was in awe of the readiness and willingness of his Brazilian compatriot to do such a thing.
'Wonder Boy' revealed this during his most recent interview with Sportskeeda MMA and said:
"That was crazy [seeing John Lineker compete against Shinya Aoki at ONE 165]. But Lineker, he's crazy, you know? He doesn't care. He's very tough and I feel like now he's in a position where he doesn't see himself fighting for a long time so I think he just wants to add as much fights as he can right now."
Eventually, 'The Hands of Stone' was defeated by 'Tobikan Judan' via first-round knockout to bag the additional $50,000 performance bonus from ONE Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong.
On the other hand, Andrade is also coming off a defeat at the hands of Jonathan Haggerty in the headliner of ONE Fight Night 16 in November 2023, where he sustained a second-round knockout.
Fabricio Andrade still has the mentality that he is the best in the world after loss to Jonathan Haggerty
Despite receiving his first-ever defeat under the world's largest martial arts organization, Andrade still believes in himself as the best fighter in the world because, after all, he's still the reigning ONE bantamweight MMA king.
Also, that setback made him realize that he needed to retrieve his hunger for success, which led him to championship glory. The Evolve MMA and Tiger Muay Thai representative earned a reputation for being a feared knockout finisher.
North American viewers with an active Prime Video subscription can rewatch all the action from ONE 165 via the free event replay.