There is no love lost between the two Brazilians who will face off at ONE: ‘X’ later this year. Bibiano Fernandes and John Lineker might come from the same country but they couldn’t find much common ground at the virtual face offs yesterday.
Fernandes thinks that the challenger looks nervous and questioned whether he might be struggling to make weight,
“I don’t see his confidence. If you look at him, he doesn’t look confident. He looks pretty big also and that’s what I have said in the past, it’s hard for him to make weight. Maybe he won’t even make weight.”
Not professional
Lineker missed weight numerous times during his UFC career when he would dehydrate himself to try and get down to 125lbs. He only has to make 145lbs for this bantamweight title fight but Fernandes wonders whether that could be an issue,
“In the past, when he fought TJ Dillashaw, they had a good fight but he didn’t make the weight. He’s supposed to make the weight. From how I see it, that’s not professional. I always make weight. I know it is in the past and you have to move forward, but you still have to learn from the past. The way I see it, I am ready to go. I can fight him tomorrow,” he said.
Protect my belt
Fernandes hasn’t fought a Brazilian since his ONE Championship debut in 2012. He is not normally this outspoken before his fights but Lineker appears to have got under the champion’s skin,
“He said he’s going to ‘beat Bibiano.’ Beat me? No. You are going to try to beat me because a lot of guys have tried. A lot of guys said they could beat me, no problem, let them try one more time. Let him come and I will do what I did previously again and protect my belt.”
Fernandes hasn’t knocked an opponent out since 2015. Lineker is arguably the best stand up fighter he has faced in his career but ‘The Flash’ believes he can knock him out,
“My friend, you told me you’re going to knock me out too. A lot of people give me attitude, I’m about to knock you out, that’s my goal.”
