The flyweight contest between Ian McCall and John Lineker that was expected to go down at UFC Fight Night 56 has been rescheduled for UFC 183 in January.
UFC officials announced the match-up on Tuesday morning.
The initial bout in Uberlandia, Brazil was cancelled just hours before the bout, as McCall came down with a blood infection.
Ian McCall vs John Lineker added to UFC 183
McCall (13-4-1) is a former Tachi Palace Fights flyweight champion. He entered into the UFC in their introductory flyweight mini-tournament in Sydney Australia. Ian McCall, Demetrious Johnson, Joseph Benavidez and Yasuhiro Urushitani would all fight on this night. McCall vs. Johnson, and Benavidez vs. Urushiani. The winner of these two fights would be paired up to determine the first UFC flyweight champ. Johnson was originally ruled the winner until it was later discovered that the fight was actually scored a draw, but got messed up by the judges. In the insance of a chair in the tournament the fight was supposed to go to a fourth round. The two would later rematch and be the first flyweights to headline a UFC event. Johnson won more clearly this time around. Johnson would beat Benavidez for the title, and Benavidez would fight Ian McCall at UFC 156. McCall dropped yet another decision. Sicne then he has won two in a row. A Fight of the Night performance against Iliarde Santos, and another decision win over Brad Pickett in Dublin, Ireland.
Lineker (24-7) is 5-2 since joining the UFC in late 2012. Following an unsuccessful debut against Louis Gaudinot, Lineker fought his way to a four fight win streak after the unsuccessful debut. After the four fight win streak which included three (T)KO finishes, Lineker lost to Ali Bagautinov in Newark, New Jersey in what could have been his chance to earn a shot at flyweight champ Demetrious Johnson. He rebounded from the loss with a dominant victory over Alptekin Ozkilic in which he would finish the fight by (T)KO in the third round. This was very arguably his best performance since joining the UFC and would earn him and Ozkilic a Fight of the Night bonus. Lineker’s struggle to make the 125 lb weight limit have been very clear, as he has missed weight in three of his seven UFC fights. He’s been on point in his last two, so if he can keep it up and continue winning he could very well be fighting the title in 2015.
UFC 183 takes place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Jan. 31, 2015. The event is headlined by the highly anticipated middleweight matchup between former champ Anderson Silva and Nick Diaz, and is expected to air live on pay-per-view with prelims on FOX Sports 1 and UFC Fight Pass.
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