It took two fights to finally produce a definitive result, but Fabricio “Wonder Boy” Andrade captured the ONE bantamweight title after an all-action scrap went all the way to the start of the final round at ONE Fight Night 7 in Bangkok.
The pattern of the fight mirrored their first meeting, with Lineker looking to connect his fabled “Hands of Stone” with Andrade’s chin, while Andrade himself fired sharp combinations. The two striking styles were markedly different, but extremely well-matched as the pair traded big shots through four high-octane rounds.
But, despite Lineker landing big shots early, it was Andrade whose sharper, more accurate work started to mount up as the bout progressed and, by the time the fighters returned to their corners at the end of Round 4, Lineker was in a bad way.
The UFC veteran was showing the damage of Andrade’s swift, sniping shots down the middle as the younger man exploited Lineker’s more wide-open style, and Lineker was rendered unable to come out of his corner for the fifth and final round. His corner team took the decision and told the referee their man was unable to continue, as an elated Andrade climbed the ropes in celebration.
It meant that Andrade became the fifth fighter to capture ONE bantamweight championship gold as the 25-year-old went from young ONE Championship prospect to world champion in just seven fights.
In the co-main event, ONE featherweight Muay Thai champion Tawanchai PK Saenchai retained his title in devastating fashion with a crushing leg-kick KO of Russian challenger Jamal Yusupov.
One kick was all it took for the Thai striker to finish the fight as he connected perfectly with a huge kick to Yusupov’s lead leg to send the Russian down to the mat. Yusupov was unable to recover, and the fight was waved off after just 49 seconds as Tawanchai delivered a dominant, statement-making title defense.
The night also saw the return to action of former two-division champion Martin Nguyen, and “The Situ-Asian” bounced back into the win column with a unanimous decision victory over Leonardo Casotti.
Nguyen had lost three of his last four bouts, starting with his title-losing knockout to Thanh Le in 2020. But, following his victory over Brazil’s Casotti, the Australian will look to mount another charge towards a ONE title later this year.
There were also notable wins for Danny Kingad, who defeated Eko Roni Saputra on the scorecards, and Danielle Kelly, who showcased both her offensive and defensive grappling skills to defeat Ayaka Miura by unanimous decision in their submission grappling matchup.
The night’s other submission grappling bout saw Norwegian ace Tommy Langaker claim a heel-hook submission victory over Russian Uali Kurzhev.
ONE Fight Night 7: Official results
- Fabricio Andrade def. John Lineker via TKO (retirement) – Round 4, 5:00 – for bantamweight title
- Tawanchai PK Saenchai def. Jamal Yusupov via knockout (leg kick) – Round 1, 0:49 – for featherweight Muay Thai title
- Martin Nguyen def. Leonardo Casotti via unanimous decision
- Saemapetch Fairtex def. ChengLong Zhang vi unanimous decision – kickboxing bout
- Danny Kingad def. Eko Roni Saputra via unanimous decision
- Danielle Kelly def. Ayaka Miura via unanimous decision – submission grappling bout
- Francesco Xhaja def. Andrei Stoica via split decision – kickboxing bout
- Victoria Souza def. Linda Darrow via unanimous decision
- Tommy Langaker def. Uali Kurzhev via submission (heel hook) – Round 1, 2:59
- Adrian Mattheis def. Zelandzhaxi via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 0:57
