ONE on Prime Video 3 saw John Lineker square off with Fabricio Andrade, in a fight that should have been the first attempted title defense for the hard hitting Brazilian. Instead, the evening for Lineker began without his belt, and ended painfully, with “Hands of Stone” writing on the canvas in pain.
At Thursday’s weigh-ins, Lineker was unable to meet the 145lb bantamweight title limit and was thus stripped of his belt. Only Andrade would be eligible to win the title in this main event, which would be the 25-year old former Muay Thai fighter’s first attempt at winning a belt.
The taller, southpaw Andrade came out of the gate pressuring forward with half steps and trading low kicks with Lineker. The jab of Andrade began to mark up Lineker’s face and a step in knee hurt him. A hard roundhouse kick started a swarm of blows that stumbled Lineker back against the cage but as Andrade charged forward Lineker shot a double leg takedown to regain control. After some ground and pound Andrade got to his feet but Lineker got the mat return. However, Andrade got back up again and broke free from the clinch. Lineker landed the first of his patented big hooks but Andrade ate it with no trouble and landed another knee. The open stance match-up opened up the roundhouse high kick for Andrade, which he used to great effect. After the first round ended, Andrade had clearly established a decent lead.
Andrade picked up where he left off in round two, with the jab popping Lineker in the head over and over. Lineker responded with a big hook to the body, but the jab and range management of Andrade made it difficult for him. Still, he did catch Andrade against the fence with a hook upstairs and took him down. Andrade struggled back to the feet but ate a lot of ground and pound in the process and seemed wobbly back on the feet after the blows he ate. Still, he was back in his preferred realm. Lineker began to have success timing the jab of Andrade and countering with the lead hook. Now Andrade’s face was marked up as well, but a lump had swelled up under Lineker’s right eye and it was unclear if he was even able to see out of that eye as the round ended.
Early in round three Lineker shot a takedown against the cage but Andrade defended well. Lineker aborted his attempt and turned to a leg lock, scrambling back to his feet when that, too, was defended. Lineker landed back-to-back right straights to the skull of his foe afterwards but Andrade responded with another 1-2, which had been landing all night for him. Lineker landed a vicious combo of hooks to the body halfway through the round but Andrade pressed him back against the fence after that. A knee to the body hurt Lineker badly and the end seemed close but when Andrade swarmed for the finish, his next knee landed right to the groin of Lineker, forcing the referee to call a timeout as Lineker rolled around on the mat. Lineker took out his cup and showed it to his coach, revealing it to be broken, which could be a big problem if a replacement could not be found. Now, Lineker began to dry heave on the mat from the pain, making the chances of the fight continuing start to look slim.
Broken cup, and later a vomit bucket. Unfortunate end tonight. #ONEonPrimeVideo3pic.twitter.com/XIEic4Aw0q
— Cageside Press (@Cagesidepress) October 22, 2022
Lineker finally got back to his feet gingerly and the crowd cheered, but the time was up for him to recover and the fight was declared a no contest. It was a disappointing end after such an exhilarating start to the fight over two and a half rounds, but the fighters will surely get a chance to run it back with the title on the line in the future. As for Lineker, between the broken cup low blow and a possible broken orbital, he could be on the shelf for a bit.
Official Result: John Lineker and Fabricio Andrade ends No Contest, Round 3, 2:43
