John Lineker finally achieved the status of a World Champion. ‘Hands of Stones’ dethroned the longtime ONE Bantamweight World Champion Bibiano Fernandes at ONE: LIGHTS OUT.

In his 44th fight, the 31-year-old knocked out ‘The Flash’ to gain the ONE Bantamweight gold. ‘Hands of Stones’ relied on his power to get the job done at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

However, ‘The Flash’ had his moments in the fight. In the first round, Fernandes dropped Lineker, but the American Top Team representative wasn’t going to let this opportunity pass him. Lineker quickly recovered and found the finish in a crazy exchange in the second round.

During the post-fight press conference, Lineker, 35-9, was emotional. He said, “This victory means a lot for me. It shows my life, my history, where I’m from, and where I managed to come.”

“Yes, I was the striker, he was the BJJ guy. But I trained very hard to be confident in grappling and this is my history. This is where I managed to put myself into, so it represents my life.”

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The bout was rescheduled three times before Lineker got the opportunity to go against Fernandes. Thus, it gave Lineker ample amount of time to secure his first ONE World Championship.

Key Reasons why John Lineker became the ONE Bantamweight World Champion

‘Hands of Stone’ can shut out anybody who he touches. However, apart from that, there were many factors that contributed to Lineker’s win.

Composed Lineker:

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Coming into the fight, both fighters were verbally going after each other. However, during the fight, Lineker appeared to be the calmer fighter. Whereas his counterpart, Fernandes, looked angry. A calm Linker was able to manage the distance and make the right choices in the wild exchanges.

Also, it appeared that ‘The Flash’ was over-looking Lineker. Even on the ground, he looked for the ground and pound instead of securing the position and using his grappling skills.

Father Time:

The 41-year-old, Fernandes, was a long-reigning ONE Bantamweight Champion. Even though on paper, the AMC Pankration product appeared as the better fighter, father time took care of his advantages. Even the ONE supremo Chatri Sityodtong in his post-fight mentioned Fernandes not being the same fighter.

Weight Management:

Lineker used to struggle on the scale prior to his ONE run. However, because of ONE’s hydration tests, fighters compete at their natural weight. Thus, it helped Lineker. Also, Fernandes, struggling to make weight against the knockout artist, worked in Lineker’s favor.

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