John Lineker’s ONE Championship debut was not as easy as some would have suspected.
The Brazilian was recently released by the UFC after putting the company on blast for not getting a fight then pulling out of a fight the week of. The Las Vegas-based promotion was not happy and John Lineker took his talents to ONE Championship where he made his debut in Jakarta, at ONE: Dawn of Valor.
In the first round, Lineker had success on the feet and hit Muin Gafurov with a ton of punches, but his opponent survived. As the fight went on, it was clear this was an even fight with Gafurov using leg kicks and takedowns to have success while Lineker used his striking and attempted a guillotine choke off his back that looked tight. But, Gafurov got out of it and then landed heavy elbows to Lineker to end the second round.
Entering the third round, John Lineker continued to use his striking to his advantage and never seemed in danger on the feet. Yet, it was a much closer fight than many would have suspected, but all that matter for the Brazilian is he got his hand raised in his ONE Championship debut.
