John Lineker focused on MMA despite Muay Thai challenge, seeks Fabricio Andrade trilogy

John Lineker | ONE Championship

John Lineker may be facing Asa Ten Pow in a Muay Thai contest this Friday when ONE Championship returns to Denver, but he still remains fully focused on regaining his MMA title from Fabricio Andrade.

Lineker has won twice in his weight class since losing to Andrade in February 2023, knocking out Jae Woong Kim and then beating Stephen Loman via decision, but ONE still hasn’t offered him another shot at gold. Instead, he was paired up against Liam Harrison for a Muay Thai contest that ultimately feel through, then lost to Shinya Aoki in an MMA openweight bout.

“I haven’t fought in almost a year, so this is an opportunity for me stay active,” Lineker told MMA Fighting, saying he doesn’t take the Aoki loss into consideration since it took place outside his weight class and was offered on hours’ notice as a replacement for Sage Northcutt. “MMA is my focus, but ONE gives us the opportunity to fight in other sports, so I took it to stay active and also test myself.”

Andrade hasn’t defended the ONE title since his second clash with Lineker and has competed only once since, losing to Jonathan Haggerty in a kickboxing bout.

“He has the belt for a long time and hasn’t defended it yet,” Lineker said of Andrade. “There’s no one else but me that should do this fight, this trilogy, so let’s wait for the negotiations and see what happens. God willing, I’ll get this victory and we’ll see what the future holds for us.”

“The Aoki fight pretty much never happened,” he continued. “It was an openweight match, so it definitely won’t affect my division. I’m coming off two wins in my division, and if you look at the rankings, there’s no other fight to make but this trilogy. But regardless of them giving me a title shot or not, the important [thing is] having me fight MMA next, because that’s my main goal.”

Lineker said it took him a few training sessions to get used to preparing for a Muay Thai bout instead of the sport he has done since 2008 in which he defeated the likes of Marlon Vera, John Dodson, Rob Font, Brian Kelleher, and Bibiano Fernandes.

The hard-hitting Brazilian originally agreed to face Harrison in a Muay Thai contest back in January, but the one-time ONE Muay Thai title challenger withdrew weeks prior. Lineker said Harrison is more experienced than his upcoming opponent, but beating Pow is no easy task, especially given his prior experience of seven kickboxing appearances inside the GLORY ring and a trio of Muay Thai matches at ONE.

“My plan is to go for the knockout,” Lineker said. “I don’t like to leave it to the judges, MMA or Muay Thai. It could happen, but I go in there looking for the knockout — and it won’t be different this time.”