John Lineker expands on frustrations with UFC, ‘I cannot survive like this’

The man known as ‘Hands of Stone’ would like to get more active as John Lineker made some demands via Twitter on Wednesday.

In a tweet directed towards the UFC, Lineker mentioned the fact that his most recent opponent, Cory Sandhagen fought four times in the space of a year while he’s only fought that many times in the last three years. Which prompted the disgruntled bantamweight to ask for a fight or his release.

Lineker and his manager Alex Davis spoke with MMA Junkie following the comments and stated that they were voiced “out of necessity” due to the Brazilian’s current situation being “unsustainable.”

According to Davis, Lineker is currently also splitting time working in a pet shop called ‘Underground Reptiles’ to pay the bills between fights.

“I’ve fought four times since 2016,” Lineker said. “I have five kids. I need to pay my bills. I cannot survive like this. I don’t know if it’s something personal against me. If it is, just tell me and let me go, because I have to fight. I have to move on. It’s my career. It’s my life. I can’t be stuck this way.”

For the 28-year old John Lineker, his aforementioned last outing against Sandhagen took place at UFC Fort Lauderdale in late April when he suffered the first split decision loss of his 40 fight career (31-9 record).

Admittedly, the 135-pound contender has been dealing with a multitude of injuries whether it be his own or on his opponents’ end over the course of the last three years which have seen him lose out on three different fight opportunities (Jimmie Rivera, Sandhagen, and Dominick Cruz). But he doesn’t believe that should be held against him.

“The reality is staring us in the face,” Davis said. “We’re in a situation where certain guys are getting accelerated and other guys aren’t. In his case, it’s not fair, because he’s a very exciting, dynamic, top-level fighter. He deserves better than this.”

Lineker is indeed one of the most exciting fighters on the UFC roster let alone the bantamweight division. And all he wants is to be able to fight three times a year as he believes that’s only fair.

2013 and 2016 have been the only two years that Lineker has managed to fight three times or more in since joining the UFC in February 2012.

on 5/29/2019