Fabricio Andrade returns to combined martial arts with a objective in thoughts: defend his ONE Championship title sufficient to be acknowledged because the No. 1 bantamweight on the planet.
Andrade needed to combat John Lineker twice to say the ONE belt in 2023, forcing the hard-hitting UFC veteran to give up after a 20-minute beatdown. He went on to face adorn striker Jonathan Haggerty for ONE’s kickboxing title — which didn’t finish nicely for him —, and now lastly places his MMA belt on the road Friday in Thailand.
“I plan on combating three or 4 instances this yr and keep energetic,” Andrade informed MMA Combating forward of his ONE 170 conflict with Kwon Received Il. “I hope to defend my belt as many instances as I can. That’s additionally one of many objectives, to be identified and revered worldwide, however the one factor I can management is to combat and placed on good performances, knocking individuals out and displaying I’m on stage and folks can begin to acknowledge me. Aside from that, there’s actually nothing I can do.”
Andrade is unbeaten in MMA bouts underneath the ONE Championship banner with 5 stoppages in six wins. One in every of his victims was Received Il, completed in simply 62 seconds with a kick to the liver.
“I consider I’m not even in my prime but,” mentioned the 27-year-old fighter of Tiger Muay Thai workforce. “I solely have a number of MMA fights, so I’m nonetheless evolving in grappling and MMA, so with time the world will begin to acknowledge me.”
Received Il was very vocal after victory over Shinechagtga Zoltsetseg in early 2024, saying he was going to “kill” Andrade. The champion didn’t sound that impressed, although.
“I believe he’s simply making an attempt to advertise the combat,” Andrade responded. “He is aware of I knocked him out quick in our first combat, so he’s speaking crap making an attempt to get individuals to overlook that. However the reality is, he is aware of he must be 100% alert to combat me as a result of I can finish the combat at any second, and simply saying issues received’t make any distinction. When the cage closes, it’s solely him and I there, after which we’ll see what he’s speaking.”
Received Il is on a roll since shedding to the Brazilian, knocking out three in a row to enhance to 6-1 in his previous seven. Andrade sees evolution in his sport, however perhaps not sufficient to just accept a stand-up conflict in Bangkok.
“The primary combat was very quick so it’s like we didn’t even combat for actual, so it’s going to be very attention-grabbing to see the way it performs out this time,” Andrade mentioned. “I can’t go in there overconfident considering I’ll finish the combat the identical means as a result of perhaps I can’t finish it quick and ain’t prepared for 5 rounds. I’ve to look again on the issues I did proper for that combat and deal with this combat, but in addition know that the actual fact I knocked him out with a kick to the physique reveals he can’t take a success to the physique. A combat is unpredictable and we now have to be ready for every thing.
“I do consider he would possibly attempt to (take me down) as a result of final time he fought a harmful striker and took him down and received with some floor and pound. His opponent didn’t have good wrestling, in fact, however I believe which may give him confidence to attempt to grapple with me. I wouldn’t say it’s unimaginable or unlikely that he tries that, however I’m certain I’ve the higher wrestling and jiu-jitsu. If he tries that, I’ll be able to defend. And if there’s a chance, I’d take it to the bottom and end him. I don’t simply go to the bottom and maintain you, I’m going for the end.”
