John Lineker was scheduled to fight Rob Font last month at UFC Fight Night Greenville, but was forced to pull out of the bout on the day of weigh-ins due to suffering a facial laceration.
That may have proved to be a costly move by the Brazilian fighter because the promotion has reportedly released Lineker. MMA Junkie has reported the news, but no official reason has been given at this time by the promotion or Lineker as to why the fighter is no longer competing in the UFC.
Lineker went 12-4-0 during his tenure in the UFC (31-9-0 overall), scoring notable victories over Ian McCall, Rob Font, Michael McDonald, John Dodson, Marlon Vera and Brian Kelleher. Lineker had competed at flyweight and bantamweight in the UFC, leaving flyweight after a series of weigh-in misses. Lineker’s last bout with the promotion came at UFC Fight Night Fort Lauderdale, where he suffered a split decision loss to Cory Sandhagen.
The released Lineker is still ranked #10 in the UFC Bantamweight Division at this time, but he is expected to be removed from the rankings when the UFC updates them this Tuesday.
There is no word yet on where Lineker may fight next, but one would think that there would be a lot of promotions that would be interested in the fighter’s services.
