Kulabdam’s controversial win over John Lineker at ONE Fight Night 27 on Saturday morning sparked a “robbery” debate online, with some ONE Championship fans questioning the judges’ decision.
The Thai veteran insisted that he fully deserved the victory at Lumpinee Stadium, however, after picking himself up off the canvas and mounting a spectacular fightback.
Former ONE bantamweight MMA champion Lineker – competing in just his third Muay Thai fight, dropped Kulabdam in the first round and looked set to steamroll to another knockout victory.
Under ONE’s criteria, unanswered knockdowns automatically earn a fighter a 10-8 round. But Brazil’s Lineker was pegged back in the second and third rounds, losing them on all three scorecards.
That left the fight tied – and with no draws in ONE, priority usually goes to a knockdown. But the judges seemingly asserted the overall damage dealt out to Lineker by Kulabdam outweighed that of the knockdown.
“I think they all have different opinions [online] and it’s divided into two parts – either they think John won, or I did,” Kulabdam told the Bangkok Post backstage.
“The thing is, I know getting a knockdown will score two points, but I got back up and then in the second and third round I did everything I could.
“I threw everything I had and also I had better accuracy, so I think that’s why I won.”
The decision had certainly sparked plenty of debate on social media after the fight.
“That’s a robbery, Lineker won the fight,” a fan wrote on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, with another insisting “Lineker deserves a rematch”.
Other fans agreed with the judges, however, in replies to a video post of the knockdown on ONE’s official Instagram account.
“The knockdown usually gets you the win but honestly, Lineker was schooled in round two and three. I agree with the decision,” one fan wrote.
“You can’t just coast off one knockdown and win the whole fight. Especially, when all you have are haymakers,” another said.