Alexey Balyko promises to expose John Lineker at ONE Fight Night 25 

Alexey Balyko feels he’s more than capable of giving John Lineker a rude awakening.  

Both men are penciled to collide in a bantamweight Muay Thai bout at ONE Fight Night 25 on Prime Video. This U.S. primetime event airs live from the iconic Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, on Friday, October 4. 

For Lineker, this will be his second foray into “the art of eight limbs.” This comes on the heels of the former ONE Bantamweight MMA World Champion’s emphatic stoppage of Asa Ten Pow in his Muay Thai debut this past September. 

Riding high on that momentum, “Hands of Stone” hopes to make it 2-0. However, Balyko has other plans. 

“Honestly, I don’t see anything particularly dangerous about him. He’s just a man like me. Though, surprisingly, he’s shorter than me,” Balyko said. 

In fact, the Russian hard-hitter seems surprised that Lineker is so eager to test his mettle in Muay Thai again. 

“For some reason, Lineker decided to fight in Muay Thai, which surprises me a lot. He can’t even kick higher than a low kick. If he chose to grapple, I think people would be less surprised. His punches might be heavy, but they are wide and slow,” the Tiger Muay Thai fighter said. 

“In the fight with me, he’ll get a taste of the Soviet school of boxing!” 

Alexey Balyko vows to finish John Lineker

Alexey Balyko knows the intricacies of Muay Thai all too well. 

The 31-year-old striker has earned a reputation as one of Russia’s elite practitioners in the sport, with 23 career victories to his name. 

His knockout power and boxing skills have put many opponents to sleep. His scintillating first-round knockout of Stefan Korodi last July was a stark reminder of just how dangerous he is in the ring. 

Balyko is now ready to take the biggest scalp of his career and derail Lineker’s Muay Thai ambitions before they get fully off the ground. 

“My strategy will be to make him feel powerless. I want to break him mentally,” he said. “The perfect outcome for me in this fight would be, of course, a beautiful knockout.”