The November scrap at flyweight between John Lineker and Ian McCall that was cancelled due to an infection McCall suffered, has been re-scheduled for Jan. 31 and UFC 183. McCall was favored at (-210) in the original fight at Fight Night 56, otherwise known as UFC Uberlandia, back in November.
Lineker, who is Brazilian and was fighting at home, was the slight underdog at (+160) the first time around. Expect the location and McCall’s pulling out of his last fight to cancel each other out, and for the line to emerge at the books much the same it was for the first fight.
Lineker has run his UFC record to a fine 5-2 overall, but he is 1-1 in his last two outings. Known as ‘Hands of Stone’, Lineker has won a lot of fights with his fists. McCall has gone (2-2-1) in his UFC career, winning his last two fights to get on the winning trail.
His rocky start included losses to Demetrious Johnson and Joseph Benavides, and the draw was in his first UFC fight, also to Demetrious Johnson. In those fights against the top of the weight class, McCall has flashed his talent, and he in fact has gone the distance in all of his UFC fights.
The winner if this match is expected to earn another shot at Demetrious Johnson and the Flyweight belt. With a win, Lineker would be 6-2 overall in the UFC and it would be hard to deny his call for a shot in a division where there is not a ton of depth.
But McCall has a third meeting with Johnson in mind. Johnson has defended the belt six times now, putting a stranglehold on the division. One of the reasons there is a call for a third meeting between Johnson and McCall is that the two met back in March of 2012 for the vacant title, and the results were a draw. Johnson won the exciting re-match to capture the belt, and he has been on a spree ever since. Basically, McCall was the last person who really pushed Johnson consistently.
Take a look at an Ian McCall fight from back in 2011 at the TPF event in August of that year:
