John Lineker News

Drake Riggs - November 7, 2018

Just when you thought that UFC 233 couldn’t be getting a better building start, we get one hell of a bantamweight matchup thrown into the mix. It will have been two years once the end of December rolls around that we’ll have seen the former bantamweight king Dominick Cruz (22-2) compete inside the Octagon.

Tom Taylor - August 29, 2018

UFC bantamweight contender John Lineker wants a fight. Unfortunately, he’s having a hard time finding a willing dance partner. In fact, Lineker is getting so desperate for a fight that he recently offered to step in against towering featherweight contender Zabit Magomedsharipov at UFC 228 — though this idea was shut down by the UFC.  Still without an opponent for his next bout, Lineker recently took to Twitter to put his fellow bantamweight contenders on blast. He also joked that if nobody agrees to fight him, he might just move up two weight classes to the lightweight division.

Tom Taylor - August 24, 2018

Yesterday afternoon, the MMA community was rocked by the unfortunate news that Yair Rodriguez had been forced out of his anticipated UFC 228 featherweight showdown with rising Russian star Zabit Magomedsharipov. From there, the UFC began a frantic search to find a replacement opponent for Magomedsharipov on short notice. As always, several fighters spoke up and offered to step in. None, however, could rival the cojones of Brazil’s John Lineker.

Chris Taylor - May 12, 2018

UFC bantamweight knockout artist John Lineker lived up to his “hands of stone” reputation at tonight’s UFC 224 event in Brazil scoring a savage third-round knockout victory over a very game Brian Kelleher. John was able to catch Kelleher with some big shots throughout the course of the fight but Brian was able to survive each Lineker surge. That is until round three, when Lineker landed a left hook from hell which spawned an end to Kelleher’s night.

Justin Golightly - December 26, 2017

Leading up to the suspenseful weigh-ins approaching quickly on Friday, we already had a roller coaster of emotions kicking into UFC 219 fight week just after Christmas. Jimmie Rivera has been going back-and-forth with Marlon Moraes about being his replacement this Saturday, but despite multiple attempts to agree on increasingly higher catchweights, it never worked out. It all started when his former opponent John Lineker had to pull out of their fight with a serious tooth infection. Speaking recently to Guilherme Cruz of MMA Fighting, Lineker opened up about the situation. “I noticed this when I came to Las Vegas earlier. I didn’t know how bad it was a week ago. I started to feel the pain, but I thought it was something related to the root canal treatment I did three weeks ago. When I talked to a second doctor — the first one didn’t have an answer for the pain — they found this infection. I kept training hard despite the pain, but the pain kept getting worse a week before fight week. I decided to go to Vegas early so the UFC doctor could see how I was because I wanted to fight no matter what, but he saw that I wasn’t fit to fight and would have to do something about it.”

Russell Ess - December 24, 2017

A pivotal matchup set for UFC 219 has been scrapped from the end of the year card taking place in Las Vegas, Nevada on December 30. The exciting matchup between current number 4 UFC ranked bantamweight Jimmie Rivera and number 6 ranked John Lineker has been canceled due to Lineker being forced to pull out of the bout. According to MMA Fighting, multiple sources have confirmed that Lineker was removed from the bout due to a tooth infection and will have to undergo emergency surgery.

Justin Golightly - December 8, 2017

Georges St-Pierre just left the middleweight division in just a month after becoming champion. TJ Dillashaw is training right now to change weight classes and challenge Demetrious Johnson. Meanwhile, John Lineker is about to fight Jimmie Rivera and he’s not happy. He recently expressed his dislike over fighters jumping around and thinks they should stay where they are at. …Especially guys he wants to fight against. “This business of challenging people in other divisions, I don’t like this. Every fighter has to stay quietly in his division and stay in his corner. But the UFC is now giving these opportunities to fight in other weight categories. Stagnation will not happen, because [TJ Dillashaw] still has the bantamweight belt. Either way, he’ll have to defend the title. But in my opinion, everyone should stay in their division instead of challenging people elsewhere to fight.”

Justin Golightly - November 21, 2017

The UFC’s year-end mega card has taking more hits than most of it’s roster has had, but it is slowly being built back up. One of the bouts that ended up having to get split up is Dominick Cruz’s return to the Octagon against Jimmie Rivera, which was called off because of a broken arm Cruz suffered in training. Lots of fighters offered to step up including Marlon Moraes, Aljamain Sterling and John Lineker. Just earlier today, it was reported that a bout could be finalized soon, but now UFC officials have confirmed to Adam Hill of the Las Vegas Review-Journal today that the replacement bout is officially moving on with Lineker. UFC is working towards booking Jimmie Rivera vs. John Lineker for UFC 219 on 12/30, according to sources. Not finalized yet but moving in the right direction. Hoping to finalize very soon.

Tom Taylor - September 19, 2017

John Lineker, one of the UFC bantamweight division’s most exciting contenders, is now scheduled for a return to the cage. According to a report from Combate, which was subsequently confirmed by MMAFighting.com, Lineker will make his return at UFC Fight Night 119 this October 28 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. His opponent will be Ecuador’s Marlon “Chito” Vera. This will be Lineker’s first fight in nearly a year, as his last steps into the cage occurred in December of 2016, when he came up short in a bantamweight scrap with former champion  TJ Dillashaw. This loss to Dillashaw was preceded by four-straight wins in the bantamweight division, as he submitted Francisco Rivera, defeated Rob Font by decision, knocked out Michael MacDonald, and defeated John Dodson by decision. The Brazilian bantamweight knockout artist is 29-8 overall.

Tom Taylor - August 14, 2017

Bryan Caraway hasn’t stepped into the cage since May of 2016. From the sounds of it, he’s eager to change that very soon. On Monday morning, the long-time bantamweight contender, who currently holds the number-6 spot in the official UFC bantamweight rankings, made a call out of brick-fisted Brazilian John Lineker.

Tom Taylor - December 30, 2016

Former UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw is the owner of one of the most unique fighting styles in MMA. As such, he is an extremely difficult opponent to prepare for. Tailoring a game plan for his specialized blend of footwork, head movement, and takedowns is an undeniably stark challenge. Dillashaw’s UFC 207 opponent John Lineker, however, is not particularly panicked about this challenge. In a recent interview with MMAJunkie.com, he shed some light on his very simple strategy for Dillashaw. In his last fight, which saw him narrowly defeat John Dodson, Lineker said he spent too much time chasing his opponent. Against Dillashaw, he plans to avoid doing this, thereby forcing Dillashaw to come to him. From there, he can get to work with his absurd punching power.

Tom Taylor - December 27, 2016

This Friday, the UFC will return to beautiful Las Vegas, Nevada with UFC 207. In the co-main event of the evening, we’ll see reining bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz attempt to defend his title against dangerous challenger Cody Garbrandt. Earlier on the main card, we’ll witness another high-stakes bantamweight scrap, as former champion TJ Dillashaw takes on stone-fisted former flyweight John Lineker. The winner of this fight, it would seem, is the obvious next opponent for the winner of the card’s Cruz vs. Garbrandt co-main event battle. As it turns out, however, this is not necessarily certain. In UFC 207’s episode of The Watch List, UFC matchmaker Sean Shelby explained that while the winner of Dillashaw vs. Lineker is certainly a frontrunner for the next bantamweight title shot, the presence of other contenders like Jimmie Rivera, Bryan Caraway and John Dodson in the division means nothing is certain.

Tom Taylor - November 2, 2016

We now know that UFC 207 will be co-headlined by a men’s bantamweight title fight between reigning champion Dominick Cruz and streaking challenger Cody Garbrandt. Well, as it turns out, this co-main event won’t be the only high profile men’s bantamweight scrap on the December 30 card. According to a report from ESPN.com, a bout between former champion TJ Dillashaw and stone fisted contender John Lineker is also in the works for the event. Sources close to both competitors have apparently confirmed that the fight is nearly finalized. If this fight is indeed booked, it’ll be a nice consolation prize for Dillashaw, who has been ceaselessly campaigning for a rematch with Cruz. The two talented bantamweights first met in January of this year. On that night, Cruz walked away with a hard-fought split decision win, and the bantamweight belt. Since that razor close loss to Cruz, Dillashaw has rebounded nicely with a dominant decision win over former foil Rafael Assuncao on the undercard of UFC 200.

Tom Taylor - October 25, 2016

Earlier this week, it was announced that the next crack at Dominick Cruz’s UFC bantamweight title would go to undefeated contender Cody Garbrandt. This bantamweight championship bout will fill the co-main event spot of a stacked UFC 207 on December 30. Given the way Cruz and Garbrandt match up on paper, and the fact that they’ve built up a pretty compelling rivalry over the last few months, the announcement of this matchup was pretty well-received.

Tom Taylor - October 5, 2016

It’s crowded at the top of the bantamweight division. Currently sitting on the division’s throne is pound-for-pound great Dominick Cruz. Directly under him are dangerous contenders like former champion TJ Dillashaw, brick-fisted Team Alpha Male staple Cody Garbrandt, the hard-nosed Bryan Caraway, and the streaking Jimmie Rivera. And then, of course, there’s John Lineker, a long-time contender at flyweight who has recently found new life in the bantamweight division.

Tom Taylor - October 2, 2016

Last night, in the main event of the UFC’s return to Portland, Oregon, John Lineker and John Dodson engaged in a memorable, five-round battle. Over the course of the fight, which was contested entirely on the feet, both brick-fisted bantamweights had their moments. In the end however, Lineker walked away with a hard-fought split decision – an outcome that is likely to be debated for some time.

Chris Taylor - August 13, 2016

A key bantamweight bout between former flyweight title challenger John Dodson (18-7 MMA) and knockout artist John Lineker (28-7 MMA) will headline October’s UFC Fight Night 96 in Portland, Oregon. MMAFighting was the first to report the bout.

bjpenndotcom - July 14, 2016

https://youtu.be/x9mP3Dysv78 Wednesday night in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, #8 ranked bantamweight John Lineker knocked out #5 ranked Michael McDonald in impressive fashion.