John Lineker has not made weight ahead of his bantamweight title fight with Fabricio Andrade. The Brazilian missed by the narrowest of margins and as a result the belt will be on the line for his opponent only at ONE on Prime Video 3.
Lineker has a history of missing weight but could not have come much closer at yesterday’s weigh ins. He was over by just 0.25lbs with the Malaysian Mixed Martial Arts Association releasing the full results on Facebook:
Chequered past
Lineker will also forfeit a portion of his purse to his opponent. Andrade weighed in at bang on 145lbs and will be looking to become the fifth fighter to hold the ONE Championship bantamweight title and the third from Brazil.
When it comes to making weight Lineker has something of a chequered past. He came in too heavy for five of his 16 UFC fights and probably missed out on a title shot as a result.
Having missed weight four times as a flyweight during his UFC career he moved up to 135lbs but still managed to come in heavy for one of his bantamweight fights. ONE Championship uses a slightly different system and Lineker, who stopped Bibiano Fernandes to win the belt, has had no issues in any of his previous three bouts for the promotion.
Things are HEATING up 🔥 Will Fabricio Andrade be able to claim the ONE Bantamweight World Title when he faces John Lineker at ONE on Prime Video 3? @fabriciowdb @johnlineker pic.twitter.com/f5nZcczE3D
— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) October 21, 2022
Missing out
Promotional newcomer Uali Kurzhev will also miss out on the opportunity to fight for a title. He was set to challenge for the inaugural ONE Championship submission grappling lightweight belt but came in 4lbs overweight.
As a result that belt will be on the line for Kade Ruotolo only, he stepped on the scales at bang on 170lbs. The fight cards for both ONE 162 and ONE on Prime Video 3 remain intact with none of the bouts scrapped.
But numerous fighters will have purse deductions after missing weight. The culprits were Jeremy Miado, Gustavo Balart, Lea Bivins, Tagir Khalilov and Constantin Rusu.
Several of the fighters who missed weight are ONE Championship veterans who have never previously had problems with the scales. It suggests that passing the promotion’s unique weight checks and hydration tests is not an exact science and even experienced competitors are struggling to get the hang of it.
