Another fight has been booked for this fall’s big UFC 191 card. Here it is, along with my initial thoughts on it. John Lineker vs. Francisco Rivera, UFC 191 A bantamweight matchup between high-level strikers John Lineker and Francisco Rivera has been added to UFC 191, which takes place September 5 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. This fight will likely find its way onto the main card, although it could also be used as the prelim “main event.” This is just an awesome fight. Both guys are always in exciting, crowd-pleasing matchups and I don’t expect that to change when they fight each other. Both guys have huge power on the feet and both guys have pretty decent chins as well. Neither uses wrestling all that often, either, so fans are likely going to see a stand-and-bang fest where both men have their moments, and in a fight between two high-level strikers like Lineker and Rivera, it’s hard to say who will have the upper hand come fight night. Obviously the biggest X-factor here is Lineker moving up to 135lbs. He has fought there in the past and has had success, but Rivera is a top-10 ranked fighter at the weight class and this is not going to be a walk in the park for the Brazilian by any means. Lineker is coming off of a dominant decision win over Ian McCall, but he missed weight for that fight and was forced to move up a weight class by UFC president Dana White. He’s clearly one of the best flyweights in the world when he can make the weight, but at this point it remains to be seen what he can do as a bantamweight fighter, although I do expect him to carry his power up a weight class, and of course he still has a great chin. As for Rivera, he’s coming off of a brutal KO win over Alex Caceres that snapped a two-fight losing streak. He’s definitely got great striking, but his ground game is questionable and his chin has been checked before. I do believe he will have the technical striking advantage over Lineker in this fight, though, so that should help him quite a bit in the matchup as it’s likely to play out on the feet, but if Lineker chooses to wrestle, it will be interesting to see how Rivera will do. As far as the odds go, I’m expecting them to be pretty close but with a lean towards Rivera, who is the bigger, more proven fighter at 135lbs. Having said that, Lineker always has a puncher’s chance so you can’t count him completely out of this fight, although if I had to pick a winner I would go with Rivera.
