By:  | November 18, 2023 7:18 am

John Lineker will be making his Muay Thai debut at ONE Fight Night 18. The UFC veteran takes on Liam Harrison at Lumpinee Stadium on January 18th.

Lineker is a former ONE Championship bantamweight champion who developed a reputation as one of the hardest hitting fighters in the sport of MMA. The 33 year old faces a totally different type of challenge when he takes on the experienced Englishman.

Harrison has had over 11 Muay Thai fights and been in with some of the best fighters at his weight. The Englishman has been in with Nong-O Gaiyanghadao, Muangthai P.K.Saenchai, Phetmorakot Wor Sangprapai and Saenchai PKSaenchaigym.

Legendary power

Lineker is coming off back to back wins in 2023. He beat Jae Woong Kim and Stephen Loman but, having already faced bantamweight champion Fabricio Andrade twice, he is unlikely to be awarded a third title shot.

Under normal circumstances Harrison’s superior experience would make him a strong favourite. But he suffered a serious knee injury in the loss to Nong-O and has been sidelined for over a year.

Harrison is known for his low kicks although the Englishman is so confident in his boxing that he wanted to fight Floyd Mayweather. Lineker’s punching power is legendary and this fight is already being promoted as β€˜guaranteed fireworks’.

Hard hitting

As previously announced hard hitting bantamweights Kwon Won Il and Shinechagtga Zoltsetseg will face off at Lumpinee Stadium on January 13th.

The fight is set for ONE Fight Night 18 which will take place at Lumpinee Stadium on Saturday morning and be broadcast live on Prime Video. The Korean saw his title prospects damaged by a stoppage loss at the hands of current champion Fabricio Andrade.

Kwon rebounded with two straight second round stoppage wins. The #4 ranked Korean has now won five out of his last six with every single victory coming courtesy of a stoppage due to strikes.

Zoltsetseg has been in some wild brawls but has yet to crack the top five at bantamweight. The Mongolian is coming off a split decision win over Rui Chen at ONE Friday Fights 22.

He has won five out of his last seven and one of those losses was caused by a moment of madness. He was piling it on Yoshiki Nakahara at ONE on TNT 2 but decided to try soccer kicking the Japanese fighter in the head and was duly disqualified.

New year

If ONE Championship sticks with the schedule that has become well established in 2023 this could be the second event of the calendar year. There have been fight cards at Lumpinee Stadium on almost every single Friday night since January.

There will presumably be a ONE Friday Fights event at the venue on January 11th. The cards which are broadcast live on Prime Video take place once a month on Saturday mornings.

Next up is ONE Fight Night 17 which is set for December 9th. There are currently five Muay Thai fights confirmed for that card which doesn’t have a main event yet.

ONE Fight Night 18, Bangkok, January 12th
Muay Thai: Liam Harrison vs. John Lineker (Bantamweight)
Kwon Won Il vs. Shinechagtga Zoltsetseg (Bantamweight)