John Lineker requests Fabricio Andrade not to hit him in groin for ONE title rematch
John Lineker isn’t worrying about Fabricio Andrade’s outside-the-cage antics leading up to their rematch for the ONE Championship title Friday in Thailand. In fact, he’s amused by them.
Andrade said on this week’s episode of the Trocação Franca podcast he was “surprised” his fellow Brazilian agreed to running it back right after their first bantamweight title bout ended in no-contest due to an accidental low blow.
“The father of a friend of mine told my friend, ‘John is crazy to fight this guy again,’” Lineker responded on Trocação Franca. “I really am crazy [laughs]. … Fabricio is very tough, a talented fighter, but I’ve fought guys way better than him.”
“Fear is a word I don’t know,” he continued. “It doesn’t exist in my dictionary and will never exist in my life.”
Lineker jokes the only thing that concerns him this time around is to protect his groin.
“He’s a talented guy, a tough one, so I have to work hard,” Lineker said. “I’ll predict a third-round finish again. And don’t hit me in the nutsack again, Fabricio [laughs].”
“He said he was going to knock me out in the first round, and I said that would never happen. I have 50 fights and have only been knocked down once — and came back to win the fight. But for him to knock me out, that would never happen. And I said I was going to catch him in the third. And look, he kneed my nutsack in the third. He knew I was going to catch him [laughs].”
As for Andrade wearing a shirt with his face on the body of a chicken, Lineker said “I have fun with it.”
“I love to always prove people wrong my entire life,” Lineker said. “I’ll show I’m the real champion in this fight, that I’m here for a long reign. I see people saying if I fought Fabricio 10 times it would be the same, but I’ll show it’s going to be completely different.”
Lineker and Andrade compete for the vacant title since “Hands of Stone” missed weight last time around and the bout ended with no winner. The UFC veteran blames a miscalculation for the issue and added “I’m 100 percent on point” now.
“I don’t like to give excuses and say I wasn’t OK, but fact is, my head wasn’t good because I lost the title on the scale,” Lineker said. “That messed me up, given my history [of missing weight in the UFC]. That made me feel bad, the fact I wouldn’t take the title with a win. I’m more focused and determined than before.”