Lineker Misses Weight, Loses ONE Title

For the second time this year, a Brazilian MMA champion has lost his title to the scale.

Former UFC bantamweight John Lineker, who crossed over to ONE Championship back in late 2019, was unable to make weight for his planned title defense against Fabricio Andrade at tomorrow’s ONE on Prime Video 3 card in Malaysia, according to SCMP.com.

UFC lightweight Charles Oliveira suffered a similar fate back in May.

“When a fighter doesn’t make weight at ONE, he goes back to square zero because he has to make weight and pass the hydration test,” Lineker’s manager Alex Davis told MMA Fighting. “That mistake happened because his scale was off in his room, lighter than the official one. When that happens, you have a second attempt to make weight but you have to pass the hydration test again. He couldn’t do it. Having two attempts to make weight in three hours is a bit complicated. That’s the rule and we’ll respect it. Fabricio accepted the fight, and we’ll see John’s situation after the fight.”

Andrade is eligible to win the bantamweight title on Friday (but Lineker is not).

Lineker, 32, has an unfortunate history of missing weight and UFC sent him packing after withdrawing from an important co-main event on ESPN. The bantamweight limit under the ONE banner is 145 pounds but Lineker still came in heavy on both attempts.

The Brazilian was fined 20 percent of his purse.