Uberlandia, Brazil plays host to a co-main event that has number one contender status written all over it, however you may not have known it. The UFC has done little to no promoting of the Ian McCall vs. John Lineker flyweight match-up at UFC Fight Night 56 this Saturday night.
This will be the second time in three fights that “Uncle Creepy” has fought in Brazil. His last outing in Brazil was in August 2013 when the Team Oyama fighter earned ‘Fight of the Night’ honors against Iliarde Santos.
One would think this would be a comfortable place for McCall to fight.
“It’s definitely out of my comfort zone. It sucks, but it is what it is,” McCall told MMASucka.com. “I just kind of chalk it up as it’s part of my job and just learn to laugh about it.”
The flyweight division hasn’t been the most popular amongst fans. McCall thinks that some of that falls on the UFC, but the majority of it is the champion Demetrious Johnson fault. On this week’s episode of The MMA Hour, McCall compared Johnson’s personality to his coffee mug.
“Of course a lot of it falls on them. They don’t really promote us, but you have to be promotable to have them promote you. And back to the coffee mug, he’s not very promotable.
“It’s really confusing. It’s a weird little paradox we’re in here,” said McCall. “It definitely sucks, but I don’t know, it’s a confusing situation.”
Another thing the 30-year-old mentioned on Ariel Helwani’s show was that the women get more attention than the flyweight’s, even though his division are twice the fighters. He feels it’s a ‘slippery slope’ when talking about men fighting women, but their genetic make-up makes them more athletic.
“It’s a slippery slope when you talk about fighting women. You could break it down to physics and science — it’s not a good match-up, let’s just put it that way. For me to have to go up a weight and have to fight a Ronda Rousey or something, that’s not even comparable. Look at the Olympics, look at every single other sport on the planet, men are just more athletic. It’s our genetic make up and I’m not being a dick, it’s just how it is.”
The number six ranked Lineker has has a tough time with weight cuts over his career. In his seven UFC appearances, the flyweight has missed weight three times. McCall is fine with this; in fact, he is going to constantly be reminding him about it.
“It’s just another fight. He’s a dangerous opponent and I’m going to keep reminding him that he sucks at cutting weight and that he looks like a monkey version of Kermit the Frog and he can’t throw punches in a direct correlating line from point A to point B. But that’s just me being a dick and that’s just having fun with it. It’s part of my job to stir up trouble. When UFC comes calling and says, ‘we haven’t sold any tickets, can you cause some trouble?’ I’m like OK.”
Lineker is known for his heavy hands and his big knockout power, but McCall thinks that he will miss with his feverish punches and be able to capitalize on that mistake. The title shot is potentially up for grabs with a victory in this bout, so “Uncle Creepy” needs to showcase his skills and get the finish.
“A bunch of swinging and a bunch of missing and then a bunch of me hitting him,” McCall stated. ‘And then if he doesn’t topple over after that, then I’m going to put him on his back and kind of show the world how good my ground and pound really is. Every time I do put someone on their back, I’ve sort of embarrassed them really, but I don’t do it enough. Especially in a fight like this, I want to get it over with. I could very well not get a title shot after this. I could very well get swept under the rug and have to fight whoever, so I just need to go out there, get my job done, go home with my family and wait for a call for another fight.”
I haven’t finished anybody in the UFC. It is embarrassing.”
With a victory, McCall will likely get the next shot at Johnson’s 125-pound gold. In their first outing, there was a scoring error and it wound up being a draw. McCall had Johnson flattened out on the mat, punishing him with ground and pound. If the scoring was done correctly, the bout would have gone into the fourth round and who knows what the verdict would have been.
In his sort of tongue in cheek way, McCall places blame on UFC President Dana White for the way that fight went.
“I like to blame it on Dana [White]. He gave me some cheesy pre-fight speech to hype me up and not be a flash in the pan and to impress the world. I just want to use that as an excuse, because it was my own fault. I was just trying to have a good time and apparently me having a good time doesn’t mean me winning.
“So I need to go out there and just hurt everybody.”
