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British Muay Thai fighter Liam Harrison cited issues with a lingering injury as the reason for pulling out in his scheduled fight against former MMA world champion John Lineker last week.
It was also a decision he said was not hard to make, seeing that there was no sense for him to push through with it.
The two veteran martial artists were supposed to clash in a bantamweight Muay Thai showdown at ONE Fight Night 18 on Prime Video on January 12 in Thailand.
‘Hitman', however, pulled out of the contest in the lead-up because of a lingering injury and later on said he was more focused now on fighting one last time in Muay Thai then calling it a career.
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Speaking to the South China Morning Post recently, Liam Harrison shared the thought process he had when he decided not to push through altogether with his match with LIneker.
The 38-year-old Leeds native said:
“It wasn't difficult at all mate [to withdraw from the John Lineker fight]. To be honest, no I'm not going to lie to you, I’m not really interested in fighting John Lineker. There's nothing in it for me whatsoever. What is there? What is in it for me to fight and what is in it for me to fight an MMA fighter? Nothing.”
Check out what he had to say below:
Liam Harrison initially looking forward to showdown with John Lineker
Interestingly, before Liam Harrison decided to pull out from his match with MMA fighter John Lineker, he was looking forward to the contest. He believed that it was good for the sport of Muay Thai to have MMA fans also exposed to the ‘art of eight limbs'.
The crossover showdown was supposed to be the Muay Thai debut of Lineker while marking the return of Harrison to competition after suffering a knee injury in August 2022.
In an interview with SCMP MMA in November last year, ‘Hitman’ shared his thoughts on his fight against the ‘Hands of Stone', saying:
“Yeah, I mean Lineker, he’s got a good name as well and I think it's going to bring in MMA fans and casual fans from outside of ONE Championship. So yeah, it’s a massive name and it should get a lot of crossover fans involved.”
There is no word yet on when Harrison will make his return to action but has expressed his desire to fight in a ONE Championship event in the United Kingdom, whenever there is one.
