UFC 163: August 3, 2013 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil UFC Flyweight John Lineker (-350) Profile: John Lineker (21-6) boasts an impressive arsenal of weapons for only being 23-years-old. The Brazilian has made a decent impact on the UFC flyweight division, where he currently resides at the #8 position on the official rankings, mostly due to his heavy hands (for a flyweight) and willingness to mix it up and get into a scrap. His first fight in the Octagon was deemed Fight of the Night worthy by the bossmen, and he and Louis Gaudinot cashed an extra $50k check for that battle. Lineker is young, but rapidly improving. He is content to follow the fight wherever it goes, which sometimes gets him in trouble on the submission end. Currently he’s riding a two-fight winning streak. UFC Flyweight Jose Tome (+250) Profile: Jose Tome (33-3) takes this fight on short notice after replacing the injured Phil Harris. His record is impressive, and he has 15 knockouts and 13 submissions to his name in such organizations as Shooto in Brazil, and Jungle Fights, but he hasn’t faced the best competition. He does have a slight size advantage on Lineker, but the possibility of this turning into a wild brawl that favors Lineker is a real possibility. Tome is enjoying an 18-fight undefeated streak regardless of these observations. Opening UFC 160 Analysis: MMA oddsmaker Nick Kalikas made Lineker a sizeable -350 favorite (bet $350 to win $100) while Tome opened as a +250 underdog (bet $100 to win $250) at Several Bookmakers sportsbook. Lineker has been extremely impressive so far in the UFC with big wins over Azamat Gashimov and Yasuhiro Urushitani as he’s used his hands of stone to beat his opponents like dogs. Tome, on the other hand, is making his UFC debut here and while he does have an impressive win streak, keep in mind it was against lesser competition and that he took this fight on short notice. That being said, he is a BJJ wiz and Lineker has shown holes in his ground game so if Tome can get the fight into his realm things will be very interesting.
