John Lineker hasn’t fought in MMA for over a year, since he took on Shinya Aoki in Japan as a last-minute openweight replacement. “Hands of Stone” is returning to Japan for his kickboxing debut at ONE 172 on Sunday. He sees this as an opportunity to make money while waiting for his next MMA fight.
Lineker will face former ONE kickboxing champion Hiroki Akimoto in Saitama. This fight comes after Lineker participated in three muay Thai matches over the last six months, winning two of them. As a father of six, the Brazilian fighter emphasizes that he needs to stay active and earn.
“I definitely have to work more to provide for the family,” Lineker stated. “I’m going into this fight aiming for a knockout. I’m always aggressive when I fight, always trying to finish the fight before it goes to the judges, and this time will be no different. I’ll aim for the knockout and try to win that $50,000 bonus.”
Lineker wasn’t originally planning on these kickboxing fights. His focus was on regaining his ONE title in a trilogy fight with Fabricio Andrade. However, he decided to take these fights to earn money while waiting for Andrade.
“It’s about staying active and getting paid,” Lineker explained. “It’s better than being sidelined because without these fights, I would have gone almost a year without fighting. I believe ONE is waiting to set up the title fight. Fabricio hadn’t defended the title yet, I’m not sure why he was holding onto the belt, but he just fought and won quickly against the Korean fighter [Won Il Kwon]. I took the opportunity with these fights to make some money and stay active.”
The former ONE bantamweight champion will turn 35 in June and is already planning for his life after MMA. He recently started a construction company in his hometown of Paranagua. Lineker and his business partner just finished renovating a building, and he is enjoying this new venture.
“It’s something new for me, something I didn’t know much about before,” Lineker said. “[My business partner] has the knowledge, and it’s been interesting to get into this different field. We have a very tough career [in fighting], and we don’t know how long our bodies will be able to perform at the highest level [laughs]. So, we have to be prepared for the future.”
The MMA veteran, with 49 fights under his belt, is uncertain about what to expect from Akimoto in his kickboxing debut. Akimoto has a 6-4 record in kickboxing matches in ONE. The Japanese fighter had a five-fight winning streak at one point in his career, which led to a title victory over Capitan Petchyindee.
“To be honest, I didn’t follow muay Thai and kickboxing fighters much because I was more focused on MMA,” Lineker admitted. “But I started watching his fights after our fight was booked, and I saw that he’s very dangerous and very tough. I don’t know much about him, but I saw that he’s very experienced in kickboxing.”
“The preparation doesn’t change much for us because we’re always training everything for MMA,” he added. “We are doing more specific training now, of course, so I’ve put grappling aside a bit, but it doesn’t change much in the stand-up aspect.”
“Hands of Stone” achieved back-to-back knockouts in muay Thai fights in 2024, knocking out Asa Ten Pow and Alexey Balyko with hooks, before losing a decision to Kulabdam Sor.Jor.Piek Uthai earlier this month. He anticipates that his knockout power will translate well with 8-ounce kickboxing gloves.
“We use bigger gloves in training, and it’s a bit harder to score knockouts,” Lineker said. “But it’s an eight-ounce glove there, which is very dangerous. It’s smaller, so I believe that if my hand lands, he will go down just like he would with MMA gloves.”
