The bantamweight title fight between champ Bibiano Fernandes and John Lineker, which had been expected to headline Bad Blood last week, has been rescheduled.
On Monday, ONE Championship officials confirmed to Cageside Press that the title fight had been shifted to March 11’s Lights Out card. MMA Fighting was first to report the news.
Lineker was forced out of last Friday’s card after testing positive for COVID-19. That marked the second time a bout between the Brazilian duo had to be pushed back. The pair were originally scheduled for December’s ONE X; however, that entire card was postponed by several months.
John Lineker (34-9) earned his title shot on the strength of a three-fight win streak, with “Hands of Stone” winning all of his ONE Championship bouts to date. Lineker exited the UFC in 2019, off a loss to Cory Sandhagen. Despite flirting with the title picture at both flyweight and bantamweight, he would never get the chance to compete for gold in the promotion.
Bibiano Fernandes (24-4), a two-time bantamweight champion in ONE Championship, has won his last two fights, both against Kevin Belingon. The pair fought on three consecutive occasions from 2018 and 2019, with Belingon capturing the belt, then losing it back to Fernandes and falling short in their third fight. Fernandes is actually up 3-1 overall against Belingon, including their first meeting in 2016.
A teammate of Demetrious Johnson, Fernandes missed all of 2020 and 2021. When he returns against Lineker, it will have been nearly two and a half years since Fernandes last fought.
Also on the ONE: Lights Out card, which is set to take place at the Singapore Indoor Stadium in Kallang, Singapore on March 11, 2022, will be a featherweight title fight between champ Thanh Le and jiu-jitsu ace Gary Tonon.
