The Brazilian knockout artist will challenge Bibiano Fernandes for the undisputed One Championship bantamweight crown in the One Championship “Bad Blood” main event on Friday at Singapore Indoor Stadium in Kallang, Singapore. Lineker, 31, enters the cage with the wind of a three-fight winning streak in his sails. He last fought at One on TNT 3, where he punched out Troy Worthen in the first round of their April 7 encounter.
As Lineker approaches his forthcoming showdown with Fernandes, here are five things you might not know about him:
1. On-the-job training was part of his plan.
Lineker was just 18 years old when he made his professional mixed martial arts debut with a second-round technical knockout of Mauricio Alves at Paranagua Fight 2 on Sept. 5, 2008. He went on to fight 15 times as a teenager, compiling a 10-5 record in those appearances.
2. Consistency strengthens his case.
“Hands of Stone” has suffered consecutive defeats only once in his 43-fight career. Lineker lost to Felipe Arantes, Erick da Silva and Andre Luis de Souza in succession between Aug. 7, 2009 and Sept. 12, 2009.
3. His reputation can be deceiving.
Lineker can do serious damage when upright, but his ancillary skills have proven more than serviceable. The evidence? He has four submission victories to his credit. Lineker put away Alvino Jose Torres with a rear-naked choke in the second round of their Shooto Brazil 18 pairing on Sept. 17, 2010, took care of Felipe Alves with a second-round rear-naked choke at Gladiators Fighting Championship 2 on Oct. 16, 2010, tapped Renato Velame with a rear-naked choke in the first round of their Jungle Fight 27 confrontation on April 21, 2011 and dispatched Francisco Rivera with a first-round guillotine choke at UFC 191 on Sept. 5, 2015.
4. The scale do not always agree with him.
The former Jungle Fight champion missed weight on five different occasions—four times as a flyweight and once as a bantamweight—during his 16 appearances in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Lineker went 4-1 in those bouts, a technical submission loss to Louis Gaudinot offset by victories over Jose Maria Tome, Phil Harris, Ian McCall and John Dodson.
5. He can take a punch.
In addition to the prodigious knockout power from which his nickname was derived, Lineker sports one of the game’s sturdiest chins. He has never been knocked out as a professional, with three losses by submission and six others by decision. Lineker landed 12 knockdowns in the UFC. His opponents were credited with none.