Before the co-main event got started at UFC 207, T.J. Dillashaw and John Lineker went toe-to-toe inside the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. While the bout wasn’t a guaranteed title eliminator, Dillashaw certainly fought as if it was.
The Elevation Fight Team member turned in a dominant performance, sweeping the scorecards 30-26. Lineker never got started and what happened to him in the first round certainly didn’t help. “Hands of Stone” told MMAFighting.com that his jaw was broken in the opening frame thanks to a head kick:
“I felt a pop right away. I wasn’t dizzy or anything like that, but I felt a pop. I thought ‘it was just the kick, no problem,’ but it started to hurt a lot in the second round. I truly felt it in the third, when I took all of his punches.”
Lineker thought he was in the clear post-fight until he tried eating. At that point, the bantamweight, “felt the pain and it didn’t stop.”
“Hands of Stone” was in so much pain that he underwent an MRI immediately. That’s when the diagnosis was revealed.
“It was time to go back to the hotel, and I couldn’t handle the pain anymore. I told my wife to call my manager, and I couldn’t wait until the next morning. We called the UFC doctor, and they sent me back to the hotel to do some exams, and a MRI showed two fractures.”
It’s a tough situation for Lineker, who is known for his exciting style. “Hands of Stone” has never been one to shy away from trading shots with his opponents. It cost him at UFC 207 against the former bantamweight champion. Lineker was handed a six-month medical suspension by the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC). He can return sooner if he is cleared by an ENT or oral maxillofacial surgeon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxzO7LM25Ks
Before the co-main event got started at UFC 207, T.J. Dillashaw and John Lineker went toe-to-toe inside the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. While the bout wasn’t a guaranteed title eliminator, Dillashaw certainly fought as if it was.
The Elevation Fight Team member turned in a dominant performance, sweeping the scorecards 30-26. Lineker never got started and what happened to him in the first round certainly didn’t help. “Hands of Stone” told MMAFighting.com that his jaw was broken in the opening frame thanks to a head kick:
“I felt a pop right away. I wasn’t dizzy or anything like that, but I felt a pop. I thought ‘it was just the kick, no problem,’ but it started to hurt a lot in the second round. I truly felt it in the third, when I took all of his punches.”
Lineker thought he was in the clear post-fight until he tried eating. At that point, the bantamweight, “felt the pain and it didn’t stop.”
“Hands of Stone” was in so much pain that he underwent an MRI immediately. That’s when the diagnosis was revealed.
“It was time to go back to the hotel, and I couldn’t handle the pain anymore. I told my wife to call my manager, and I couldn’t wait until the next morning. We called the UFC doctor, and they sent me back to the hotel to do some exams, and a MRI showed two fractures.”
It’s a tough situation for Lineker, who is known for his exciting style. “Hands of Stone” has never been one to shy away from trading shots with his opponents. It cost him at UFC 207 against the former bantamweight champion. Lineker was handed a six-month medical suspension by the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC). He can return sooner if he is cleared by an ENT or oral maxillofacial surgeon.
The story behind T.J. Dillashaw’s split from Team Alpha Male (TAM) is well documented. Dillashaw claims Urijah Faber kicked him off the team for his association with Duane Ludwig, while Faber has said Dillashaw left and shifted the blame to him.
Dillashaw’s former teammate Cody Garbrandt will be competing for Cruz’s 135-pound championship in the co-main event of UFC 207 tonight (Dec. 30). Dillashaw will also be on the card to meet John Lineker. While no guarantees have been made, it’s possible that this fight could serve as a title eliminator.
The once TAM fighter hasn’t been shy about his disapproval of “No Love” getting a title shot before his rematch with “The Dominator.” Speaking with the mixed martial arts media this week, Dillashaw brushed off Garbrandt’s claims that he doesn’t have power and even took it a step further (via MMAFighting).
“He knows that’s not true because I made him cry multiple times after practice. So, he can say as much as he wants, but he knows it’s not true. I remember him getting ready for the (Marcus) Brimage fight (at UFC 182) and he just lost it because I just beat the sh*t out of him. So, he can pump himself up like a politician and think he’s this big, bad man, but everyone’s got their weaknesses.”
Tonight, the former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) bantamweight title holder will have to turn his sights to John Lineker. “Hands of Stone” is on a six-fight winning streak. He was on the verge of challenging Demetrious Johnson for the flyweight title, but weight cutting issues forced him to move up to bantamweight. That wasn’t an issue yesterday morning as Lineker was able to make the weight limit.
Should Dillashaw emerge victorious, one would imagine he will keep a close eye on Cruz’s title defense against Garbrandt.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6h8UaIJFrxk
The story behind T.J. Dillashaw’s split from Team Alpha Male (TAM) is well documented. Dillashaw claims Urijah Faber kicked him off the team for his association with Duane Ludwig, while Faber has said Dillashaw left and shifted the blame to him.
Dillashaw’s former teammate Cody Garbrandt will be competing for Cruz’s 135-pound championship in the co-main event of UFC 207 tonight (Dec. 30). Dillashaw will also be on the card to meet John Lineker. While no guarantees have been made, it’s possible that this fight could serve as a title eliminator.
The once TAM fighter hasn’t been shy about his disapproval of “No Love” getting a title shot before his rematch with “The Dominator.” Speaking with the mixed martial arts media this week, Dillashaw brushed off Garbrandt’s claims that he doesn’t have power and even took it a step further (via MMAFighting).
“He knows that’s not true because I made him cry multiple times after practice. So, he can say as much as he wants, but he knows it’s not true. I remember him getting ready for the (Marcus) Brimage fight (at UFC 182) and he just lost it because I just beat the sh*t out of him. So, he can pump himself up like a politician and think he’s this big, bad man, but everyone’s got their weaknesses.”
Tonight, the former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) bantamweight title holder will have to turn his sights to John Lineker. “Hands of Stone” is on a six-fight winning streak. He was on the verge of challenging Demetrious Johnson for the flyweight title, but weight cutting issues forced him to move up to bantamweight. That wasn’t an issue yesterday morning as Lineker was able to make the weight limit.
Should Dillashaw emerge victorious, one would imagine he will keep a close eye on Cruz’s title defense against Garbrandt.
Elevation Fight Team head coach Leister Bowling will be making his exit from mixed martial arts (MMA) coaching at the conclusion of UFC 207 tomorrow night (Dec. 30). He broke the news to MMAFighting.com. B…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeStR_RZFWI
Elevation Fight Team head coach Leister Bowling will be making his exit from mixed martial arts (MMA) coaching at the conclusion of UFC 207 tomorrow night (Dec. 30). He broke the news to MMAFighting.com. Bowling helped start Elevation Fight Team in 2013, but had been coaching for a decade.
Members of Elevation Fight Team T.J. Dillashaw, Neil Magny, and Brandon Thatch will be competing on the final card of the year. Bowling will corner all of them.
Here is part of his statement:
“I am not one to ever leave anything unfinished, which makes this very hard for me because I feel like Elevation Fight Team still has so much to accomplish. That being said, it is time for me to take some time away from the sport I have grown to love so much. I have five-year-old and 10-year-old sons and a wife at home that I feel need me around more. I know our team is in good hands with the amazing coaching staff we have amassed. I will continue to help coach and be involved in MMA in one way or another for the rest of my life, but for the immediate time being, I am taking a step back from coaching/running the team, traveling and cornering fighters. I need my kids to know that coaching them and being at home with my family more is more important than coaching anyone else.”
The vision of Elevation Fight Team is clear. The camp prides itself on having a top notch private facility in Colorado to enable their fighters to perform at their highest level. A partnership with MusclePharm allows the fighters access to supplements, a theater room to study opponents, and a recovery room.
While Bowling may have left the team with “unfinished” business, he can rest easy knowing that the facility is in good hands.
Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) bantamweight title holder T.J. Dillashaw (13-3) will be going toe-to-toe with John Lineker at UFC 207 this Friday night (Dec. 30). The bout could serve as a potential title eliminator, although no promises have been made.
Regardless, the winner of this 135-pound tilt will be keeping a close eye on the pay-per-view’s (PPV) co-main event. In that slot will be a bantamweight title bout between champion Dominick Cruz and Cody Garbrandt. Dillashaw and Garbrandt were once training partners at Team Alpha Male.
Then things took an ugly turn.
Dillashaw grew fond of Duane Ludwig’s coaching. Tensions were high with Ludwig and Urijah Faber, leaving Dillashaw with an ultimatum. Dillashaw chose to go to Elevation Fight Team with Ludwig, which left a bad taste in the mouths of his former teammates.
Since the split, Garbrandt has shown “No Love” for Dillashaw. Back in August, Garbrandt said his former training partner “can get it too” and that the former champ was “talking sh*t.” Dillashaw recently spoke to Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour and he was none too pleased with Garbrandt’s title opportunity.
“I don’t blame Cody for getting his title fight at all. Anyone in the UFC, that should be your goal, to get the UFC belt and to fight for that title. He should push for that as much as he wants. I blame Dominick Cruz and I blame the UFC for letting this happen. It’s kinda, I feel, making a mockery of the sport by letting a No. 8 ranked fighter for the title. Why’d he jump seven guys to be able to fight for the belt? It just doesn’t make sense at all.”
While Dillashaw doesn’t understand why “No Love” got a title shot before he did, his anger isn’t aimed at Garbrandt. The former champion believes Cruz is trying to avoid a title rematch with him. “The Dominator” defeated Dillashaw by unanimous decision at UFC Fight Night: Dillashaw vs. Cruz back in January to reclaim gold.
“I believe that Cruz is going to try to do whatever he can to not fight me until he retires. Him trying to talk about how he wants these superfights and big-money fights. It’s like, I don’t even think you’re the best in the world and you’re trying to dodge me as long as you possibly can, because you know that I’m going to beat you. I fought him with emotion the first time and still beat him, and he knows that, and his coaches know that, and my coaches know that, and I know that. So, he’s going to do whatever he can to not fight me again.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pf-dD57iwjA
Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) bantamweight title holder T.J. Dillashaw (13-3) will be going toe-to-toe with John Lineker at UFC 207 this Friday night (Dec. 30). The bout could serve as a potential title eliminator, although no promises have been made.
Regardless, the winner of this 135-pound tilt will be keeping a close eye on the pay-per-view’s (PPV) co-main event. In that slot will be a bantamweight title bout between champion Dominick Cruz and Cody Garbrandt. Dillashaw and Garbrandt were once training partners at Team Alpha Male.
Then things took an ugly turn.
Dillashaw grew fond of Duane Ludwig’s coaching. Tensions were high with Ludwig and Urijah Faber, leaving Dillashaw with an ultimatum. Dillashaw chose to go to Elevation Fight Team with Ludwig, which left a bad taste in the mouths of his former teammates.
Since the split, Garbrandt has shown “No Love” for Dillashaw. Back in August, Garbrandt said his former training partner “can get it too” and that the former champ was “talking sh*t.” Dillashaw recently spoke to Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour and he was none too pleased with Garbrandt’s title opportunity.
“I don’t blame Cody for getting his title fight at all. Anyone in the UFC, that should be your goal, to get the UFC belt and to fight for that title. He should push for that as much as he wants. I blame Dominick Cruz and I blame the UFC for letting this happen. It’s kinda, I feel, making a mockery of the sport by letting a No. 8 ranked fighter for the title. Why’d he jump seven guys to be able to fight for the belt? It just doesn’t make sense at all.”
While Dillashaw doesn’t understand why “No Love” got a title shot before he did, his anger isn’t aimed at Garbrandt. The former champion believes Cruz is trying to avoid a title rematch with him. “The Dominator” defeated Dillashaw by unanimous decision at UFC Fight Night: Dillashaw vs. Cruz back in January to reclaim gold.
“I believe that Cruz is going to try to do whatever he can to not fight me until he retires. Him trying to talk about how he wants these superfights and big-money fights. It’s like, I don’t even think you’re the best in the world and you’re trying to dodge me as long as you possibly can, because you know that I’m going to beat you. I fought him with emotion the first time and still beat him, and he knows that, and his coaches know that, and my coaches know that, and I know that. So, he’s going to do whatever he can to not fight me again.”
To kick off a conference call that apparently has over 100 media members on the line, UFC middleweight contender Tim Kennedy officially announced the formations of a union/fighters’ association for MMA Fighters, the MMA Athletes’ Association. Attorney Jim Quinn was announced as the head of their legal team, with Kennedy remarking that he’s the best there is in the field of athletes’ associations. Quinn is also the lawyer for Georges St-Pierre, who was also on the call and spoke of how while he got out of the sport rich and relatively healthy, he’s in the minority.
The call is still ongoing as this post goes up, and we’ll have more updates later. As previously announced, Kennedy, St-Pierre, T.J. Dillashaw, and Cain Velasquez are the fighters on the call, joined by Bellator MMA founder Bjorn Rebney.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yia7p-RhnPc&t=4s
To kick off a conference call that apparently has over 100 media members on the line, UFC middleweight contender Tim Kennedy officially announced the formations of a union/fighters’ association for MMA Fighters, the MMA Athletes’ Association. Attorney Jim Quinn was announced as the head of their legal team, with Kennedy remarking that he’s the best there is in the field of athletes’ associations. Quinn is also the lawyer for Georges St-Pierre, who was also on the call and spoke of how while he got out of the sport rich and relatively healthy, he’s in the minority.
The call is still ongoing as this post goes up, and we’ll have more updates later. As previously announced, Kennedy, St-Pierre, T.J. Dillashaw, and Cain Velasquez are the fighters on the call, joined by Bellator MMA founder Bjorn Rebney.
Rising UFC Bantamweight contender Cody Garbrandt has “no love” for the champion of his division, longtime Team Alpha Male rival Dominick Cruz.
During his appearance on “Inside MMA” on AXS TV recently, “No Love” Garbrandt shared his belief that Cruz, who pretended not to know who Garbrandt was when asked by the media about him after he defeated Urijah Faber at UFC 199 in the first defense of his latest reign as UFC 135-pound champion, is avoiding fighting him.
“Dominick Cruz can’t knock anybody out. He’s got grapes for hands…Dominick knows that I’m coming for him, like everyone. He’s the champion so he has an X on his back but I’m definitely in his head and he knows he doesn’t want to fight me. That’s why he wants to move up, talk about moving up to [145] and fighting some other people. He’s trying to either get out of the division or retire before he has to fight me.”
Outside of the obvious issues the Faber-led Team Alpha Male camp has had with Cruz over the years, Garbrandt claimed that Cruz’s fighting style is one of many reasons why he isn’t a fan of him.
“I just think the guy’s a dork…. I don’t like his style. I feel like he’s a point fighter, he goes in there trying to point and take everyone to decisions. He doesn’t go in there and be a true fighter. He goes in there and just tries to out point people. This is the fight game. We come out here for finishes.”
Speaking of Team Alpha Male, Garbrandt also made it clear that T.J. Dillashaw, a former member of the team who left with former team head coach Duane “Bang” Ludwig, “can get it too.”
“T.J. too. He can get it too. T.J., Dominick, all those guys can get it. They talk sh*t but they know the real truth. They know I’m the lion in this division and I’m coming to eat them all.”
Rising UFC Bantamweight contender Cody Garbrandt has “no love” for the champion of his division, longtime Team Alpha Male rival Dominick Cruz.
During his appearance on “Inside MMA” on AXS TV recently, “No Love” Garbrandt shared his belief that Cruz, who pretended not to know who Garbrandt was when asked by the media about him after he defeated Urijah Faber at UFC 199 in the first defense of his latest reign as UFC 135-pound champion, is avoiding fighting him.
“Dominick Cruz can’t knock anybody out. He’s got grapes for hands…Dominick knows that I’m coming for him, like everyone. He’s the champion so he has an X on his back but I’m definitely in his head and he knows he doesn’t want to fight me. That’s why he wants to move up, talk about moving up to [145] and fighting some other people. He’s trying to either get out of the division or retire before he has to fight me.”
Outside of the obvious issues the Faber-led Team Alpha Male camp has had with Cruz over the years, Garbrandt claimed that Cruz’s fighting style is one of many reasons why he isn’t a fan of him.
“I just think the guy’s a dork…. I don’t like his style. I feel like he’s a point fighter, he goes in there trying to point and take everyone to decisions. He doesn’t go in there and be a true fighter. He goes in there and just tries to out point people. This is the fight game. We come out here for finishes.”
Speaking of Team Alpha Male, Garbrandt also made it clear that T.J. Dillashaw, a former member of the team who left with former team head coach Duane “Bang” Ludwig, “can get it too.”
“T.J. too. He can get it too. T.J., Dominick, all those guys can get it. They talk sh*t but they know the real truth. They know I’m the lion in this division and I’m coming to eat them all.”
