ONE Championship: John Lineker’s manager reveals why he threw towel in during MMA title fight
- Alex Davis admits ‘it was hard to do’ but says both of Lineker’s eyes were closed after the fourth round at Lumpinee Stadium
- ‘I had to take that decision, safety comes first,’ adds Davis, who was cornering former champ against Fabricio Andrade in Bangkok
Fabricio Andrade’s ONE Championship bantamweight title win came at a cost, with the new champ left celebrating in a hospital bed in Bangkok.
The ONE Fight Night 7 main event unsurprisingly took a toll on John Lineker as well.
Andrade launched a protracted attack in his fight with Lineker, gradually breaking his fellow Brazilian down with knees and straight punches, with particularly strong performances in the first and fourth rounds.
The 32-year-old Lineker was nearly unrecognisable by the time the fight was stopped between the fourth and fifth rounds, with a bad cut near his right eye and dark bruising all over his face.
He had to be helped down the ring steps at Thailand’s famed Lumpinee Stadium, and then was taken out of the arena in a wheelchair.
Yet his manager and interpreter Alex Davis, who threw in the towel, told the Post at the Rama Gardens Hotel Bangkok the former champion was “fine” despite the punishment that kept him from answering the bell for the final round.