John Lineker is the #2 ranked bantamweight in the UFC at the moment and if he can beat #1 TJ Dillashaw at UFC 207, he'll likely be in line for a title shot. Lineker, who is a slight underdog heading into the event, says he has the perfect game plan to defeat the former UFC Bantamweight Champion.
“I won’t make the same mistakes I made with Dodson, of running after him too much,” Lineker told MMA Junkie. “(The strategy is) to get him to fall into my game, in the short distance, beware of the takedowns and try to impose my striking game. I don’t want to run after him like I did with Dodson, (I want to) make him play into my game. If I don’t run after him, at some point he’ll need to come forward. That’s what I want to do. To wait for him, try to move more laterally, more backwards, to see if he comes. At some point he’ll have to come forward. He can’t just run. The referee won’t let him.”
Lineker did make weight for his bout at UFC 207 and he says the weight cutting mistakes of the past won’t be happening again.
“We screwed up in regards to the scale,” Lineker said. “But I can say for a fact that this won’t happen again. You will see. It doesn’t help if I just say it. I have to do it. This last time, it was due to a dumb mistake. Without a doubt, it won’t happen again.”
UFC 207 takes place on Friday, December 30 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada with Amanda Nunes and Ronda Rousey headlining.
