Ian McCall
On Saturday, the Ultimate Fighting Championship added two flyweight bouts to this August’s upcoming UFC 163: Aldo vs. Pettis event.
Meeting inside the Octagon will be Ian ‘Uncle Creepy’ McCall (11-4-1) and Brazilian Iliarde Santos (27-7-1, 1NC), both of whom are looking for their first UFC win. The other bout has native son John ‘Mão-de-Pedra’ Lineker (21-6) welcoming English fighter Phil ‘Billy’ Harris (22-10, 1NC) to the South American country.
The bouts were announced on Twitter (@UFC) on Saturday (June 8, 2013) night.
– 2 Brazilian flyweights will get home-country bouts in Aug at #UFC163: @IliardeSantos vs @unclecreepymma & @johnlineker vs @Philharrismma
UFC 163: Aldo vs. Pettis is expected to take place on August 3, 2013 at the HSBC Arena in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. The event will see UFC featherweight champ Jose Aldo defend his title against the #2 ranked lightweight Anthony Pettis.
McCall is 0-2-1 after three appearances with the UFC and certainly needs a win to keep his job with the top promotion. ‘Uncle Creepy’ had his last fight in February of this year at UFC 156, losing by decision to Joseph Benavidez. McCall’s two other Octagon appearances were against UFC champ Demetrious Johnson in back-to-back flyweight tournament semifinal matches, ending in a draw and then a unanimous decision for the current champ.
Santos debuted with the UFC last month at UFC on FX 8 failing to make it to the end of the first round before opponent Iuri Alcantara ended the match by knockout at 2:31. Santos had won six straight in 2012 under the banner of five various Brazilian promotions. Santos has finished twelve opponents via (T)KO, six by submission and won nine decisions.
Lineker has won two-in-a-row following a technical submission loss to Louis Gaudinot back at UFC on FOX 3 last year. That defeat ended a thirteen bout win streak for the Brazilian fighter. Lineker’s current win streak includes a TKO finish of Azamat Gashimov last month at UFC on FX 8 as well as a unanimous decision against Yasuhiro Urushitani at UFC on FUEL TV 6 in November 2012.
Harris looks to climb above .500 with the UFC after going 1-1 so far since joining the top promotion last fall. The English fighter fought last February at home winning a decision against Ulysses Gomez at UFC on Fuel TV 7. Harris was forced to tap out in his UFC debut, losing via rear-naked choke to Darren Uyenoyama at UFC on FX 5.