John Lineker positive for COVID, out of ONE Championship fight with Fernandes
Reports broke early this morning that John Lineker has tested positive for COVID-19 and that the title fight with Bibiano Fernandes is off. Reports were first published by MMA Fighting’s Guilherme Cruz. The bout was originally scheduled to take place in Singapore on the ONE Championship: Bad Blood card on Friday, February 11th.
John Lineker Out of Fight With Bibiano Fernandes
According to MMA Fighting, Lineker left Brazil last week for Singapore where he tested negative for any infection. Unfortunately for John Lineker, upon arriving in Singapore, one of his pre-fight tests were positive and the fight was scrapped from the upcoming ONE Championship: Bad Blood card.
John Lineker has blazed a path towards the title since joining ONE Championship. His debut was a unanimous decision win over Muin Gafurov and then two subsequent knockouts being Kevin Belingon and Troy Worthen.
ONE Championship: Bad Blood is still a great card, even without John Lineker. Anatoly Malykhin and Kirill Grishenko are set to fight for the ONE Interim Heavyweight title. If Fernandes does not remain on the card, it’s likely that Malykhin and Grishenko would serve as the main event. In addition to that, Jonathan Haggerty and Mongkolpetch are set for an epic Muay Thai bout. There’s also Yosuke Saruta vs. Gustavo Balart, Danial Williams, Sung Hoon Woo, and Heqin Lin on the card as well.
MMA Fighting was not privy to the status of the bout as a whole or if Bibiano Fernandes would remain on the card. It’s a mega fight and ONE Championship would likely be keen on re-booking it. Should Fernandes win, he’d move to 15-1 with the promotion with John Lineker being the biggest win to date.
Stay posted to My MMA News for all the latest news surrounding Lineker, including if the fight with Fernandes is rebooked, ONE Championship and more! Thanks for reading!
