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Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) bantamweight power puncher, John Lineker, made his successful ONE Championship debut on Friday as part of the ONE: “Dawn of Valor” mixed martial arts (MMA) event inside Istora Senayan in Jakarta, Indonesia.
“Hands of Stone” was able to showcase his punching prowess for most of the opening round, but opponent Muin Gafurov managed to weather the storm and keep the fight competitive. Lineker improves to 32-9 with the unanimous decision win while “Tajik” drops to 16-3 in defeat.
Lineker, 29, spent roughly seven years competing for UFC and quickly emerged as a title contender at both flyweight and bantamweight, at one point racking up a 10-1 record from 2012-16. Unfortunately, weigh-cutting issues, as well as a couple of ill-timed losses, kept him from the promised land.
With his ONE Championship debut now out of the way, it will be interesting to see how far the Brazilian can go against international competition.