Originally scheduled for January, bantamweights John Lineker and Cory Sandhagen will instead meet in April at UFC Miami.
A bantamweight bout between John Lineker and Cory Sandhagen is back on again.
Having originally been scheduled for UFC Brooklyn last month, MMAjunkie confirmed on Wednesday that the matchup has been re-booked for UFC Miami this April. That card includes Glover Teixeira vs. Ion Cutelaba, which was also slated for Brooklyn, only to have injury to Cutelaba cancel the contest.
Lineker (31-8) is coming off a KO win over Brian Kelleher at UFC 224 in May. Apparent difficulties finding him an opponent led to him being shelved for several months, and a planned January showdown with former champion Dominick Cruz was nixed when Cruz suffered an injury. The Cruz cancellation led to “Hands of Stone” getting booked vs. Sandhagen at UFC Brooklyn, but the Brazilian withdrew due to a rib injury. Lineker has won eight of his last nine fights, with his one loss coming to current champion T.J. Dillashaw in 2016.
Sandhagen (10-1) is on a five-fight winning streak, with three of them coming inside the Octagon. After winning his debut over Austin Arnett, Sandhagen rallied to TKO Iuri Alcantara after nearly getting submitted early in the fight. With Lineker out, Sandhagen instead fought Mario Bautista and finished him with an armbar on what officially marked the first live UFC fight ever televised on ESPN.
UFC Miami airs live on ESPN on Saturday, April 27th and is expected to feature Yoel Romero and Paulo Costa in the main event.