Yoga turns ONE fighter’s career around

Andrew Leone has never lost a fight in ONE Championship, but he has had some big problems. He struggled to make weight a flyweight, and had to pull out of a 125 title fight with back issues.

That was last year and Leone is now fully recovered and ready to challenge Bibiano Fernandes for the bantamweight title. But it has been a long, hard road for the American who thought at one stage his career might be over.

I’ve a couple of herniated disks and basically at one point a whole bunch of stuff happened and my legs went numb,” he told James Goyder for MMA Weekly. “And that was only like two weeks before the fight. I have my girlfriend holding out my legs and I was like, ‘All right this is it.’ I thought I was going to have to retire; I thought it was over.

I didn’t train on the mats, I didn’t have any explosiveness. The motivation kind of went out the window, so I kind of turned my focus onto yoga. I was doing yoga three to four times a week for almost eight months and I got my body back. I’m not waking up in pain.

The hard work and the soft work paid off and now Leone fights a hero of his, ONE champion Bibiano Fernandes at ONE: Kings & Conquerors on Saturday.

He has been the champ since I was little, so it’s exciting to go there and take it from him,” said Leone. “I wouldn’t say he’s got too many weakness. He hasn’t lost in a while. Maybe he is getting older, but he is the man. It’s Bibiano.

I believe in my techniques. I believe in my training. I believe in my training partners. I believe in my ability to win.