In a battle between two hard-hitting strikers, John Lineker was able to score the biggest win of his career, edging out Filipino-American sensation John “The Magician” Dodson by a razor thin split decision, Sunday afternoon (Philippine time) at the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon, USA.
Lineker (29-87), who had missed the bantamweight limit by a pound and a half during the weigh-ins, was able to take the decision 48-47, 48-47, 47-48 — even after being out-landed by Dodson (18-8).
Based on the stats produced by Fightmetrics, the Magician landed 120 total strikes during the 25 minute bout, compared to just 102 for his opponent. But the judges favored the Octagon generalship of Lineker, who continuously stalked Dodson during the fight even though Dodson was head hunting him.
“I trained very hard for this fight, I came here for five rounds, I got one round after the other, that’s the way I like to fight,” Lineker said.
The 32-year-old Filipino-American turned technical as the fight went on after absorbing various body shots from Lineker. Wary of Lineker’s power, Dodson avoided getting into a slugfest in the second round.
The inevitable happened in the third round, though, as both warriors slugged it out in the middle of the cage, with Lineker clocking Dodson. Dodson was able to recover and find his timing in the fourth round, landing a hard left that rocked Lineker. However, Dodson failed to follow it up, much to the dismay of the crowd.
Both fighters slowed down in the final round after 20 minutes of grueling action. Lineker was able to land a hard shot with 1:40 left to momentarily stun Dodson, but the former flyweight challenger was able to answer back and securing a takedown to close out the bout.
“I’ll fight anybody they put in front of me, but I think I deserve Dominick Cruz,” Lineker said. “That’s four consecutive wins. It’s my turn now.”
And with a win over Dodson, Lineker has made his case for a shot at UFC Bantamweight Champion Dominick Cruz. On the other hand, Dodson falls to 7-3 in his UFC career, with this loss being the first against a fighter not named Demetrious Johnson.
