Lineker (left) and Dodson (right) had a friendly look. (Photo: Reproduction)
UFC Fight Night 96 arrives this Saturday (01) in Portland, in the United States, with a card full of Brazilians – there are six in total –, but with emphasis on John Lineker from Paraná. The bantamweight will face John Dodson in the main fight of the night, and the winner puts himself very close to a possible title fight against Domick Cruz, current champion of the category. The confrontation also brings with it a curious detail: both fighters worked in the flyweight division until recently.
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Lineker is going through his best phase in Ultimate and has already won five consecutive victories, three of them in bantamweight. After having problems with the scales, the Brazilian was forced to move up a category and left the flyweight division precisely at the moment he qualified for a title fight against Demetrious Johnson. However, the episode did not shake Lineker, who had a meteoric rise towards the top of his current weight range. Third in the rankings, a victory this Saturday definitely places him as the likely next challenger for the bantamweight belt. Despite the good moment, it is worth remembering that the Brazilian did not make weight for the fifth time in the organization, the first as a bantamweight.
Dodson, in turn, is also coming off a victory, but only played once in the 61kg weight class. However, he left a good impression: 37 seconds was enough time to dispatch Manvel Gamburyan and consolidate his name as a real threat to the bantamweight elite. TUF 14 champion, John was only stopped by Demetrious Johnson – twice – in his career in the UFC. Number 10 in the ranking, he knows that a positive result against Lineker will make him advance important places in the race for the category title.
More Brazil
In the second most important attraction of the show, Will Brooks, former Bellator lightweight champion, measures forces with the Brazilian Alex Cowboy Oliveira. Brooks has only one UFC fight left, last July, when he defeated Ross Pearson in a unanimous decision by the judges. Alex already has more experience in the house: there are six fights, with four wins and two losses. The last time he stepped into the octagon was against James Moontasri, who he defeated on points, in July (23) of this year.
In the preliminary portion, four Brazilians stand out. In the first fight of the night, the newcomer Ketlen Scallop faces Kelly Faszholz, while Elizeu Capoeira is looking for his second victory in the organization against Japanese Keita Nakamura. We will still have Hacran Dias, training partner for José Aldo, facing André Fili in a featherweight duel and light heavyweight Luis Henrique Frankenstein measuring up against Danish debutant Joachim Christensen.
Check out the UFC Fight Night 96 technical sheet below:
DATE AND TIME: 01/10/2016, from 20:15 pm (Brasília time)
PLACE: Moda Center, Portlad, United States
STREAMING: Combat Channel
MAIN CARD
Bantamweight: John Lineker x John Dodson
Lightweight: Will Brooks x Alex Cowboy
Welterweight: Josh Burkman vs. Zak Ottow
Fly weight: Louis Smolka x Brandon Moreno
PRELIMINARY CARD
Light heavyweight: Luis Henrique Frankenstein x Joachim Christensen
Featherweight: Hacran Dias x André Fili
Heavyweight: Shamil Abdurakhimov x Walt Harris
Welterweight: Keita Nakamura x Elizeu Capoeira
Middleweight: Nate Marquardt vs. Tamdan McCrory
Light heavyweight: Jonathan Wilson x Ion cutelaba
Heavyweight: Cody East x Curtis blaydes
Bantamweight: Kelly Faszholz x Ketlen Scallop
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