Author: Guilherme Cruz

UBERLANDIA, Brazil — In Brazil for his brother Dhiego Lima’s UFC bout against Jorge Oliveira, Bellator welterweight champion Douglas Lima spoke to MMAFighting.com about his brother’s win at UFC Fight Night 56 and whether or not he’s “championship material,” and spoke about his return to the Bellator cage against either Andrey Koreshkov or Paul Daley.

UBERLANDIA, Brazil — John Lineker was supposed to fight Ian McCall in the co-main event of UFC Fight Night 56 in Uberlandia, Brazil, on Nov. 8, but the flyweight bout was cancelled hours after the weigh-ins when McCall felt sick.

“He paid the price for his jokes,” Lineker told the media in Brazil. “He made fun of my situation, drinking coconut water (before the faceoff) while I had to cut 0.7 pound, and God punished him [laughs].

“It happens. I’m upset because I wanted to fight, I trained hard for months and couldn’t fight, but we have to understand.”

Lineker, 5-1 in his past six bouts under the UFC banner, was planning to call out flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson if victorious on Saturday night. He never got the change to get inside the cage, but calls out “Mighty Mouse” anyway.

“Since I wanted to fight (McCall) and ask for a shot at the title, why can’t I just go ahead and fight the champion?” Lineker asked. “UFC, please, give me this opportunity. I have evolved a lot since my first fight in the UFC, and I’m 100 percent ready to fight for the title.”

The Brazilian flyweight, who struggled to make weight several times in the UFC — including prior to his UFN 56 bout with McCall –, guarantees he would have no problem weighing in at 125 pounds for a championship fight.

“I made a mistake,” he said of his weight cut for UFN 56. “I thought we would weigh in at 6p.m., but the weigh-ins was at 4p.m. Weight is not a problem for me anymore. I weighed in at 125.5 pounds in my last fight, and I can make 125 pounds for a title fight.”

“I need three or four months to get ready (for Johnson), to a good training camp,” he added. “Weight is not a problem anymore.”

Johnson, 7-0-1 since cutting down to 125 pounds, successfully defended his title for the fifth time with a second-round submission over Chris Cariaso in September, and Lineker is confident that his striking is the key to handle the champion his first loss as a flyweight.

“With hands of stone,” Lineker said when asked about how can he stop Johnson. “When my hand lands, he will stop.”

Lyoto Machida meets C.B. Dollaway in a five-round main event at UFC Fight Night 58, but the former light heavyweight wasn’t expecting to meet “The Doberman” in his next bout. “The Dragon,” who asked to fight Michael Bisping, Luke Rockhold or even “Jacare” Souza, was slated to battle with “The Doberman” in his second UFC main event in his native country.

“I was talking to my manager about possible fights, and he said all of those guys had fights scheduled, so there was a chance that I would have to fight Dollaway,” Machida told MMAFighting.com. “He was the best option available based on the UFC ranking, so I kind of expected him to be my next opponent.”

Dollaway is no stranger to Brazilian UFC cards. After scoring wins over “The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil” veterans Daniel Sarafian and Cezar Ferreira in Brazil, Dollaway returns for the toughest test of his professional career.

“He’s a complete fighter,” Machida said of “The Doberman.” “He has some flaws, of course, but he has a good stand up game, good takedowns and a good ground game. He’s a complete fighter, and that makes him dangerous. He hits hard, but I believe I can stop him.”

And by “stop him,” Machida means finish Dollaway on Dec. 20.

“I don’t think (it will last five rounds). I believe I can finish this fight earlier,” Machida said. “I’m not underestimating him, but I’ve learned a lot in my past fights. I have learned a lot in my fight against (Chris) Weidman, so it’s likely that I will finish this fight before the fifth round.

“Whatever it takes. I’m training hard on my grappling skills and my striking, so I want to finish him with a knockout or a submission.”

Coming off a loss to reigning middleweight champion Chris Weidman in July, “The Dragon” wants another shot at the UFC gold, but knows that he will need more than a win over Dollaway to guarantee him another title fight.

“I don’t think this fight can put me right into a title fight next, but it’s an important fight for me,” Machida said. “I have to fight well, prove that I’m a top 3 fighter, and work on better opportunities for me to work my way back to the title again.”

UBERLANDIA, Brazil — Alan Jouban and Warlley Alves fought to a close decision at UFC Fight Night 56 in Uberlandia, Brazil, on Nov. 8, and the official result was a controversial one.

All three judges scored the bout 29-28 in favor of the Brazilian, but Jouban feels he should have got the win in Brazil.

“First off, I didn’t agree with the judges, obviously,” Jouban said at the post-fight press conference. “I give Warlley a lot of credit, he brought a great fight. He’s definitely a tough competitor. I feel like some of the shots I hit him with might have taken out other guys and he stayed on his feet, so all credit to Warlley.”

Jouban, who dropped to 1-1 under the UFC banner with the loss, believes he only lost the first round against the TUF: Brazil 3 winner.

“I felt like he won the first round. He got the takedown in the second, but I got up and finished strong. The third round was pretty obvious,” Jouban said. “I gotta go back and look at it, but first thoughts after the fight I was kind of upset with the decision.”

Alves disagrees with his opponent, though.

The Brazilian prospect, who was coming off a submission victory over Marcio Alexandre Jr. in his Octagon debut on May 31, feels he did enough to win the bout.

“I believe the first round was mine. The second round was closer, but I managed to take him down and hold him there. The third was clearly his,” Alves said. “The judges are prepared to judge under the UFC rules, and I trust their decision. I won’t leave it to the judges next time.”

UBERLANDIA, Brazil — Ovince Saint Preux wasn’t planning to engage in a slugfest with Mauricio Rua at UFC Fight Night 56, and he didn’t need to after all.

With only 34 seconds in the main event clash in Uberlandia, Brazil, on Nov. 8, OSP connected a huge left hand that dropped the former light heavyweight champion to the ground. A few more punches forced referee Mario Yamasaki to end the punishment.

“I thought I could win this on my feet. It’s bad to be aggressive against me,” St. Preux said at the post-fight press conference. “I was a little surprised. When I landed the overhand, I said I might as well finish the fight. I was surprised.”

Rua dropped to 2-6 when fighting in UFC main events with the quick finish in Brazil, but St. Preux doesn’t think he should retire.

“I don’t think he was slow at all,” he said. “The thing about me is that I’m super explosive and I can take you to the ground super quickly. I think he mistook my reach so I was able to catch him. I don’t think he’s slow, he still have it. He hit me with a couple of good leg kicks.”

Right after the win, OSP said he would be interested in fighting Fabio Maldonado or Anthony Perosh next. At the post-fight press conference, he didn’t mention any names.

“We have a couple of people in mind for who is next,” OSP said, “but it’s something I have to discuss with my camp.”

On his Twitter, Maldonado quickly accepted the original offer.

“I never ran form a challenge,” Maldonado wrote. “I thought you’d ask for someone better ranked than me. Challenge accepted.”

UBERLANDIA, Brazil — Thomas Almeida proved to be worth the hype in his UFC debut.

The Chute Boxe prospect, who entered the UFC with a 17-0 record with 17 finishes, went the distance for the first time in his professional career, dominating Tim Gorman to win via unanimous decision at UFC Fight Night 56 in Uberlandia, Brazil, on Nov. 8.

“I wanted to feel his pressure, his movements, and unleash my muay thai,” Almeida told the media after his dominant performance. “It was a great test for me, I could prove I have a good cardio.”

Almeida got the win and proved he can fight three rounds, but wasn’t expecting Gorman to have such a hard chin.

“I thought he would go down faster but he handled pretty well,” he said. “He was rocked a couple times and I thought ‘yeah, I’m knocking him out now,’ but he survived and I had to work until the final round.”

At 18-0, the bantamweight prospect doesn’t want a fast track to the top.

“No rush. Let me work, fight, and we’ll go from there. I want to gain experience, step by step,” Almeida said. “I would like to fight again in May. I heard they might do a UFC show in Sao Paulo in May, at Palmeiras’ soccer stadium, and I would love to be on that card.”