The UFC returned to Portland with a (sort of) bantamweight showcase that lived up to the hype.
John Lineker met John Dodson in a classic. The two flyweight-turned-bantamweight contenders stood toe-to-toe and hit each other with their best shots. It was…
The UFC returned to Portland with a (sort of) bantamweight showcase that lived up to the hype.
John Lineker met John Dodson in a classic. The two flyweight-turned-bantamweight contenders stood toe-to-toe and hit each other with their best shots. It was an incredible sight to see. In the end, Lineker edged Dodson with a split decision.
The co-main event was a catchweight as well, but it was not as entertaining or forgiving. Alex Oliveira, who came in five pounds overweight, defeated Will Brooks by TKO in the third round. The weight and post-fight antics spoiled any goodwill he may have had.
With those and every other fight on the card the UFC crew has to be hard at work on figuring out what’s next. That’s where we come in.
Welcome, UFC matchmakers. Please, take a seat and gaze into the crystal ball to learn who comes next for the winners and losers of UFC Fight Night 96.
From the title, you might be thinking “If someone has missed weight, haven’t things already gone wrong? When is missing weight ever a good thing?” Well, last night it turned out alright for the guys who lost their battle with the scale. The men it went poorly for were their opponents. Last night’s (October 1,
From the title, you might be thinking “If someone has missed weight, haven’t things already gone wrong? When is missing weight ever a good thing?” Well, last night it turned out alright for the guys who lost their battle with the scale. The men it went poorly for were their opponents.
Last night’s (October 1, 2016) UFC Fight Night 96 had several fighters in prominent positions on the bill miss weight. On the undercard, Hacran Dias missed the featherweight limit by 2.5 pounds, and wound up on the wrong side of a unanimous decision to Andre Fili. This is an example of when missing weight goes right, or at least according to plan. The competitor who struggles with his weight cut, whether because of injury, illness, or lack of discipline, is supposed to get outperformed on fight night. His opponent “did everything right”, and fans hope he will be rewarded for that. Fili left Portland with 20 percent of Dias’ purse and a win over a ranked opponent to boot.
The fact that all three offenders are Brazilian is probably irrelevant. There are half a dozen Brazilians fighting on just about every card, never mind the cards in the South American country when the number is north of a full dozen. They make weight the vast majority of the time. So it’s not as if Brazilian fighters aren’t disciplined or don’t know how to cut weight. Gleison Tibau has been making 155 for a decade for goodness’ sake.
If the list did not include Lineker and “lightweight” Oliveira, the fact that three Brazilians missed weight on the same card would highlight the difficulty of making weight in a foreign country. Local food and culture are sometimes radically different, and it can be difficult for a fighter to stick to his usual pre-fight diet when what he normally eats might be hard to come by.
While it might be true in theory, that explanation is a hard sell when considering the offenders in this case. Lineker has always had issues on the scale, having missed the 126-pound flyweight limit in a full half of his eight UFC flyweight bouts. Now back up at bantamweight, the struggles continue. And of his 12 fights in the UFC, only three have been in his home country. So it’s not as if Lineker is unfamiliar with trying to make weight away from home.
The more disturbing trend is that Lineker hasn’t really been disincentivized from missing weight by what happens on fight night. The only time he tipped the scale heavy and then lost was his UFC debut. After going five hard rounds in which he threw north of 300 strikes but looked fine doing it, the weight “cut” clearly doesn’t affect his performance. Often when fighters come in heavy, they look awful on the scale, drawn or otherwise out of peak shape. ‘Hands of Stone’ looks fine at the weigh-ins and sensational on fight night. Lineker can continue to brush off his weight troubles because he is exciting, keeps getting W’s, and finds himself on the cusp of title contention. Why risk hurting his performance with an arduous cut when the results so far have been great?
I saw on Twitter last night something to the effect that Anthony Johnson has to be asking himself how Lineker is still in the UFC after so many mishaps on the scale (h/t @ZPGIFs). The answer is that Lineker doesn’t fold up like a cheap tent the first time he gets his back taken, and he is must-watch television in victory or defeat. And it’s victory most of the time.
Lineker only came in half a pound over, so he was nowhere near the worst offender on the night. That ignominious distinction goes to Alex ‘Cowboy’ Oliveira, who missed the lightweight limit by an astounding 5.5 pounds. As soon as the fight started, it was clear that Oliveira was a full weight class above Will Brooks, at a minimum. He made it work for him too. The Brazilian ‘Cowboy’ outmuscled the former Bellator champ in the clinch, broke his rib with a knee in the first, and polished off the compromised Brooks with ground and pound two rounds later.
Getting 20 percent of Oliveira’s purse has to be small consolation for Brooks, who had his climb up the lightweight ladder interrupted in frustrating fashion. A sizeable favorite coming into the contest, Brooks no doubt believed his superior skill set would carry him on fight night. In hindsight, he would probably agree he should have taken the ‘Uncle Creepy’ route.
Ian McCall might be the fighter to weigh in for the most fights that have never happened. While Ray Borg was forced to pull out due to illness in McCall’s most recently scheduled bout, his opponent prior to that, Justin Scoggins, was going to miss weight badly. McCall declined to fight him anyway, received his show money (and his win bonus as well), and got another fight in short order. He learned his lesson after this last opponent missed weight by five pounds and he ended up losing. His opponent for that fight? John Lineker.
The UFC needs to take a lesson from McCall and Brooks’ misfortune. They do their job, play the “company men” by fighting anyway, and take a beating for their troubles. There needs to be a black and white rule if a fighter misses weight by more than five pounds. Occasionally it works out, as when Vitor Belfort choked out a 191.5-pound “middleweight” Anthony Johnson, but that is the exception. The whole point of having weight classes is to prevent what happened to Brooks. The fight needs to be called off.
As for repeat offenders in the weight department? If we’ve learned anything from Conor McGregor, it is that one size does not fit all and every fighter will not be treated equally. Lineker is exciting, so he’ll keep his job. Not a fighter with an iron chin who recklessly throws bricks in the pocket? Better make weight.
Former two-time flyweight title challenger John “The Magician” Dodson attempted to establish himself as a legitimate threat to the 135-pound throne in the main event of last night’s (October 1, 2016) UFC Fight Night 96 from Portland, taking on No. 3-ranked John “Hands of Stone” Lineker. The two men went to battle for 25 minutes
Former two-time flyweight title challenger John “The Magician” Dodson attempted to establish himself as a legitimate threat to the 135-pound throne in the main event of last night’s (October 1, 2016) UFC Fight Night 96 from Portland, taking on No. 3-ranked John “Hands of Stone” Lineker.
The two men went to battle for 25 minutes in a closely-fought war, but it was Lineker who came out on top with a split-decision victory. Dodson, however, didn’t agree with the decision, and he believes the damage he dished out should’ve been enough to land him the nod:
“I still look handsome as hell,” Dodson told MMAjunkie. “He came out looking like Frankenstein, so I don’t know what’s up.”
“The Magician” event went as far as to compare the fight to UFC 195’s welterweight title fight between Robbie Lawler and Carlos Condit. The fight was an instant classic that many felt as if Condit had won, although the judges gave Lawler the decision:
“I did the whole Carlos Condit-Robbie Lawler thing, and sure enough, they gave it to Robbie Lawler again,” Dodson said.
Dodson did indeed appear to get the better of the striking advantages, however, Lineker’s forward pressure as opposed to Dodson’s counter punching may have led the judges to sway towards “Hands of Stone”.
“I was like, ‘What the hell are y’all thinking?’” Dodson said. “I didn’t know you could make someone miss so many times and still be on the losing end.”
John Lineker might be the scariest men’s bantamweight fighter on the UFC roster.
You know, if he could consistently be relied upon to actually be a bantamweight.
Lineker put both his virtues and faults on display in Saturday’s UFC Fight Nig…
John Lineker might be the scariest men’s bantamweight fighter on the UFC roster.
You know, if he could consistently be relied upon to actually be a bantamweight.
Lineker put both his virtues and faults on display in Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 96 main event, ultimately besting John Dodson via entertaining split decision despite missing weight the day before.
The outcome of the bout turned largely on Lineker’s heart and chin, and the 26-year-old Brazilian’s power once again proved enough to make even a seasoned veteran like Dodson skittish.
But Lineker has now been overweight five times in his UFC career, accomplishing that ignominious feat in two different weight classes. His name remains as synonymous with weigh-in gaffes as for knockouts—and for a fighter who otherwise appears to be championship material, that’s not a good thing.
On the heels of his sixth consecutive victory, however, it didn’t stop him from aspiring to greater things.
“I am a fighter,” Lineker told UFC play-by-play announcer Jon Anik in the cage after his victory over Dodson. “I will fight anyone they put in front of me, but I think I deserve [champion] Dominick Cruz.”
Now this is where things get tricky.
Lineker’s 10-2 UFC record is about as impressive as you will find on a fighter under 155 pounds. Unfortunately, he’s failed to make weight in nearly half those appearances, and so boosting him into a title fight would be a risky proposition for his fight company bosses.
This latest snafu came just 13 months after Lineker moved up from flyweight to bantamweight in attempt to put his weight struggles behind him. Despite the fact he entered riding a three-fight divisional win streak and ranked No. 3 on the UFC’s men’s 135-pound Top 10, he’ll still likely have to prove he can consistently make the limit before taking the final step up the ladder.
Lineker was 136.5 pounds at Friday’s official weigh-in and blamed the half-pound overage on a litany of issues. He surrendered 20 percent of his purse to Dodson as a result.
Unlike Saturday’s co-main event—where Alex Oliveira missed lightweight by a whopping 11.5 pounds before grinding out a late TKO over Will Brooks—weight wasn’t a factor in Lineker’s win. But booking him into a title fight would mean he’d have to hit 135 pounds on the nose, without even the one-pound weight allowance permissible in non-title affairs.
If he missed it at the last minute, it would constitute a promotional disaster for the UFC.
The organization has historically been fairly unforgiving of fighters who can’t make weight. Matchmakers aren’t likely to even take the chance of handing Lineker a championship opportunity until they can be sure he won’t foul it up before the fight even starts.
And at this point, it’s unclear what Lineker could do to prove he has solved the problem. Missing weight has plagued him since coming to the UFC in 2012, and now the prospect of making either 125 or 135 pounds looks iffy for him.
That’s a shame, too, because his never-say-die fighting style could make Lineker a popular attraction in one of the UFC’s two neediest divisions.
Few flyweight or bantamweight fighters hit as hard as he does or seem to take such pleasure in their work. While the UFC’s lightest men’s weight classes are rife with amazing technicians—think champions Demetrious Johnson (125) and Cruz (135), for example—Lineker is that rare figure capable of inspiring honest-to-goodness fear.
Not even Dodson, who has been a knockout artist in both divisions himself, looked comfortable in the cage with Lineker.
Early on, it was clear the 32-year-old New Mexico native would try to outmaneuver and out-game-plan Lineker. Along with his own power, Dodson’s mobility and boundless cardio have always been among his greatest athletic strengths.
He worked that strategy as well as could be expected in a 25-minute fight, too.
From the opening bell Dodson was circling, bobbing and weaving, never standing still for more than a fraction of a second. His goal was obviously to get Lineker to pursue him with occasionally ponderous power punches so Dodson could use his speed advantage to counter him.
It was an effective technique—mostly keeping Lineker off balance and limiting his ability to hunker down and uncork power strikes—but it was also an unpopular one.
The live crowd in Portland, Oregon, booed Dodson for his mastery, and—in fairness—on multiple occasions he literally sprinted out of danger when Lineker appeared to have him trapped against the fence.
But Dodson also arguably crafted much of the bout’s most effective offense.
He was obviously quicker than Lineker, and his sly counters found their mark with regularity. Dodson raised a welt under one of Lineker’s eyes as the fight wore on, and on the occasions when the two did lapse into short, heart-stopping brawls, Dodson actually seemed to get the better of many of them.
Immediately after the fight, UFC statistician Michael Carroll tweeted a note that FightMetric numbers actually showed Dodson came out ahead in total strikes landed:
But his strategy was a risky one.
It cast Lineker as the aggressor and Dodson as the evader. Anytime a fighter opts to play matador on a bull as determined as Lineker, he runs the risk losing the hearts and minds of the audience and the judges.
Dodson’s game plan forced this fight to resemble a zombie movie during its later stages. Lineker would not fade or die, even after eating some particularly hard kicks to the face. He kept coming forward, throwing his murderous punches.
Even though he never seemed to put Dodson in dire trouble, it was enough to nab victory on two of the three judges’ scorecards (48-47, 47-48, 48-47).
“I came here to give a show to you all,” Lineker told Anik, through an interpreter. “I trained very hard for this fight. I came here for five rounds one right after the other.”
Exactly what the win will earn him remains to be seen—and we should note the loss didn’t seem to hurt Dodson’s stock much, either.
Cruz is already rumored to have a date with current nemesis Cody Garbrandt, per the Daily Star’s Chisanga Malata. If that fight happens before the end of the year, then the 135-pound champion’s dance card will be full until at least early 2017.
Fourth-ranked fighter Bryan Caraway tweeted he would relish the opportunity to fight Lineker. Former champ and current No. 1 overall contender TJ Dillashaw is also fresh off a victory over No. 2 Rafael Assuncao at UFC 200 and apparently injury-free.
Either of those guys makes good sense as a next opponent for Lineker.
No matter who is next for him, Lineker will have more to prove than merely performing well on fight night.
For him, the test starts during the UFC’s new early Friday weigh-ins—and it figures to remain that way for the foreseeable future.
At the UFC Fight Night 96 event on Saturday night, John Lineker not only defeated fellow heavy-hitting Bantamweight contender John Dodson, he planted the seed for his next fight, or at least the one he would like next.
…
https://youtu.be/jwehHxxtHO0
At the UFC Fight Night 96 event on Saturday night, John Lineker not only defeated fellow heavy-hitting Bantamweight contender John Dodson, he planted the seed for his next fight, or at least the one he would like next.
Lineker, who has been scoring exciting knockouts for years inside the Octagon, defeated former two-time UFC Flyweight Championship contender John Dodson via split decision after five rounds in the main event of the show, which emanated from Portland, Oregon and aired live on FOX Sports 1.
In his post-fight interview inside the Octagon after his victory, Lineker called out UFC Bantamweight Champion Dominick Cruz for a shot at the title.
Watch Lineker’s call-out of Cruz via the video embedded above.
For complete UFC Fight Night 96 results, click here.
At the UFC Fight Night 96 event on Saturday night in Portland, Oregon, John Lineker proved to be too much for former UFC Flyweight title contender John Dodson.
Lineker defeated Dodson via split decision, with two judg…
https://youtu.be/yU-M68Movs4
At the UFC Fight Night 96 event on Saturday night in Portland, Oregon, John Lineker proved to be too much for former UFC Flyweight title contender John Dodson.
Lineker defeated Dodson via split decision, with two judges giving him the nod three rounds to two, whereas one judge gave Dodson the nod with the same score the opposite way.
Featured above are video highlights of the Lineker-Dodson main event bout, which aired live from Portland, Oregon on FOX Sports 1.
For complete UFC Fight Night 96 results, click here.
![LINEKER-e1455567319794[1]](http://cdn.lowkickmma.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/LINEKER-e14555673197941.jpg)
