Fabricio Andrey has just signed an exclusive contract with ONE Championship and he will be making his promotional debut relatively soon. The promotion has been putting in a lot of work over the last few years to develop their submission grappling divisions and Andrey is just one of many signings that they’ve made. ONE has been going into overdrive in the last few months in fact, as they’ve recently signed Cole Abate and Dante Leon as well. It’s clear that they’re preparing for another big push in their divisions in the next year, and they may well be looking to crown some new champions.
They only have three men’s titles that have been awarded so far, and the flyweight belt is currently vacant after they stripped Mikey Musumeci for a failed weight-cut. The other two titles are held at lightweight and welterweight, and both are still being actively defended by their champions. Kade Ruotolo last defended the lightweight belt at ONE 165 and although his brother is a more recent champion, he’s also been able to make his first successful title-defense. Tye Ruotolo put the welterweight title on the line ONE Fight Night 21 and a submission win there meant that he continues as a the champion into the new year.
Although Fabricio Andrey is known for challenging himself against bigger opponents, it’s more likely that he pursues a ONE Championship title in his own weight class. Challenging Kade Ruotolo isn’t completely out of the question but as an under 66kg competitor, Andrey’s natural weight class will be featherweight. There’s never been a champion in that weight class before but ONE has several elite grapplers under contract at that weight. Lucas Pinheiro and Thalison Soares both signed contracts with them last year and are still yet to make their respective promotional debuts, while Andrey’s former rival Diego ‘Pato’ Oliveira is in the same situation right now.
Any of those competitors would be excellent matchups for Andrey and having them all under contract gives ONE Championship some excellent options moving forward. ONE have never been known to stick exclusively to elite BJJ competitors when it comes to matchmaking for their submission grappling divisions either of course, and there are plenty of elite MMA fighters and Sambo veterans who they could pit against Andrey instead. Just recently they were able to coax BJJ legend Marcelo Garcia out of retirement too and with his debut still to be determined, he’s another potential opponent the promotion could book for Andrey.
ONE Championship announced the news that Fabricio Andrey had signed a contract with them in a recent post to their official Instagram account:
