John Lineker admitted recently that he can do great in the mixed martial arts bantamweight division.
In the past, the former flyweight missed targets weights several times eventually resulting to him moving up to bantamweight division. He admitted that he was taken a bit surprised when fought his first bantamweight bout against Francisco Rivera. The fight was actually spectacular, with both fighters throwing powerful strikes at each other. This went on for a couple of minutes before Lineker threw a hard shot that resulted to Rivera tapping out to a guillotine. He revealed that he wasn’t aiming for the submission, but since it was there, he gladly did it.
“That wasn’t my strategy, actually, but I believe a lot in my left hand. I know that when it lands, it rocks you, so I went for it. My original strategy was to tire him out in the fence in the first round, but my hand landed and I changed my strategy,” Lineker said.
Lineker is currently sitting at the 12th spot in the MMA bantamweight division and he says that he wants to beat a top fighter next. He believes that it will now be easier for him to fight better because of the easier weight cut:
“I hope my next fight is against a top 5. I won’t pick and choose, but I hope they give me a top 5 so I can get closer to the bantamweight title. One or two more intense wins like this last one, and I think they could give me a title shot. I still cut a lot of weight to fight at bantamweight, but it’s not like it used to be before. I believe I can fight more often now. I had to wait five months between fights to make 125 pounds, so I can fight more now that I’m at 135,” he explained.
Towards the end, Lineker expressed his confidence in his ability to win over top fighters in the division, T.J. Dillashaw and Dominick Cruz.
“For sure. They move a lot, but that’s not a problem. They would have to get closer to hit me, and once you get closer, I’m hitting you back. I would not hunt them down, I would let them come,” he said.
As of the moment, Lineker has managed to win seven out of the eight fights he had in the UFC. As for the fight between Dillashaw and Cruz this coming January, the 25-year-old Brazilian is looking forward to Dillashaw beating Cruz in the bout.