By Jun Ray Navarres
MMA rising star Jeremy Pacatiw puts his bet on Fabricio Andrade in his rematch against rival and compatriot John Lineker for the vacant ONE Bantamweight belt.
The top two fighters of the division are set to meet again at ONE Fight Night 7 on Prime Video to finally end their dispute for the true kingpin of the weight class.
The assumption of the golden plated strap was long overdue when the first meeting of the two Brazilians ended in a disappointing manner.
Andrade, who was clearly at the lead made a mistake and landed a knee to the groin area of Lineker. The latter was not able to recuperate in the allotted time, forcing the match to a no-contest.
Yet, Andrade was leading for most of the fight and Pacatiw believes he will be too, in the upcoming rematch.
“I think Fabricio has the mental edge now and his confidence is at an all-time high. He has this mindset now of ‘I wanna kill this guy.’,” shared Pacatiw.
“He’s really boosted for this fight, because maybe he knows that he rightfully deserved to get the win in the first match, but it just ended with a low blow. Fabricio probably knows that ‘this is nothing for me, even if we go into a rematch.’”
Pacatiw definitely knows what he’s saying especially when he has already shared the cage with Andrade once and suffered a knockout loss just last year at ONE: Full Circle.
While confidence can also bring a disaster, the Team Lakay warrior also believes that Andrade’s mic work will further lower Lineker’s morale going into Lumpinee Boxing Stadium on Feb 25.
“Sometimes all that trash talk makes you lose track of things, it’s like you’re aware of what’s been said of you, and you start to lose focus. So, my advice to Lineker is to just ignore what Fabricio said, just focus on the fight,” added Pacatiw.
Nonetheless, just like any fan, Pacatiw is hopeful that one fighter will eventually emerge as the new ONE Bantamweight World Champion after the night.
Follow the writer on Twitter: @burnsports
