Fabricio
Andrade has unfinished business with John
Lineker.
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The One on Prime Video 3 main event clash between Andrade and
Lineker ended in anticlimactic fashion when an accidental knee to
the groin from Andrade rendered his opponent unable to continue at
the 2:44 mark of Round 3.
As a result, the bout was declared a no contest, robbing Andrade of
an opportunity to claim the bantamweight (145-pound) belt in a bout
he was clearly winning. Lineker nonetheless was stripped of the
title after failing to make weight one day prior.
“I was very close to the belt. I have no doubt Lineker wouldn’t
have reached the fourth round. It was hard for me, but I have
to understand that Lineker used the rules in his favor,” Andrade
told Sherdog.com. “To tell you the truth, I came to this fight
expecting a more aggressive Lineker, but he recognized my skills
and came more defensive, respecting me a lot, not moving forward as
he normally does. Because of that I had to change the game plan. If
he was more aggressive I knew I would knock him out fast in the
first round.”
Andrade revealed that Lineker’s vaunted power was not as much of a
factor as he expected.
“I received a few punches from him in the first round, and I was
even calmer because I realized that it wouldn’t be anything that
would shake me,” Andrade said. “When he entered the second round, I
pushed to end the fight. I felt that my blows were hurting him, so
much so that he came out for the third round with his face badly
damaged. I realized that not only him, but his entire team was
already desperate. I could hear what the guys were saying. They
knew the fight was lost.
“When the first knee came in the third round I told myself, ‘Now
I’m going to finish him.’ I ended up getting too excited and hit
him with a low blow.”
Andrade added that he heard Lineker’s team advise the UFC veteran
not to return to the fight after the foul.
“He was already with his face destroyed, very tired, with the fight
lost, and he took the opportunity to use the rules, because he knew
that if he came back I would knock him out,” Andrade said. “The
fact is that he took the easy way out. But the real thing is that
everyone knows that if he came back he wouldn’t make it through
that round, because he had almost three more minutes to finish the
round, so he wouldn’t make it from there.”
Andrade is certain, however that the “total rupture” of the genital
protector was fabricated in the locker room by Lineker’s team to
make an impact on social media.
“When I saw in the cage that the referee came to show me it was
just a latch on the protector, and then he and the team finished
breaking it and posted a video on Instagram,” Andrade said. “But
the truth and what everyone saw was that he couldn’t win the fight
and took the easy way out. But this is in the past. What interests
me now is fight for the belt as soon as possible. If Lineker
doesn’t want a rematch, let One put another fighter against me for
this vacant belt. I’ve already told ONE that when he’s ready I’ll
make a point of continuing what I started and knocking him out. I
just want to fight for the belt as soon as possible.”
Sherdog.com later spoke with Lineker’s manager, Alex Davis, who
confirmed that a rematch between Andrade and Lineker is in the
works.
“Lineker is still feeling a sharp pain in the scrotum area,” Davis
said. “But we hope next week he can start the camp. He wants to
fight Fabricio again as soon as possible.”