ONE Championship: Thanh Le predicts Bibiano Fernandes will beat John Lineker at Lights Out, as he looks to defend own featherweight MMA title
- Le backs Fernandes to retain bantamweight title on Friday night in Singapore, but concedes ‘it’s a hard call’
- Featherweight champ defends his belt against Garry Tonon on same card, and thinks he will ‘end up knocking him out’
Thanh Le is not expecting any titles to change hands at ONE Championship’s Lights Out event on Friday in Singapore.
Le, the promotion’s featherweight champion, will defend his belt against his fellow American Garry Tonon in the card’s main event. In the co-main event, Brazil’s Bibiano Fernandes will defend the bantamweight title against countryman John Lineker.
Le (12-2) will be busy warming up backstage when Fernandes fights, but he expects the bantamweight champion to retain his belt.
“I like Bibiano in this one,” the 36-year-old told the Post. “Lineker’s a dog. He does have some hands of stone, but if I had to put money down – and based on what I’ve seen recently and the way these two guys play things out – I think Bibiano has this one.”
Despite his confidence in Fernandes, Thanh admits the fight is a “hard call” – and a testament to ONE Championship’s matchmaking.
“[ONE has] got really good matchups,” he said. “The matchmakers do a phenomenal job.”
The 41-year-old Fernandes (24-4) first got his hands on ONE gold in 2013. He held it until 2018, when he lost the title after a split decision loss to Kevin Belingon, but he promptly reclaimed it and has held it ever since.