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#2 John Lineker vs. Rob Font
This Bantamweight bout should be chock-full of action as it features two of the most exciting strikers in the division. Fascinatingly, it’s also a rematch, as the two men first faced off at UFC 198 just over three years ago, with Lineker taking a decision victory in his second bout in the UFC at Bantamweight.
We haven’t seen Font since December, when he smacked around the much smaller Sergio Pettis and made full use of his lanky 5’8” frame. Lineker meanwhile was last seen in an exciting fight with Cory Sandhagen, but unfortunately for ‘Hands of Stone’, he came out on the wrong end of a tight decision – likely ending his hopes of ever gaining a title shot.
This is somewhat of a weird one in that if you ignore their first fight, you’d probably say Font might have an advantage.
At 5’8” he’s a tall Bantamweight, a massive contrast to the shorter Lineker, who stands at just 5’3” and will be giving up 4.5” of reach.
Lineker loves to wade into the pocket to throw his trademark hooks to the body and head, but you’d have thought that Font would be able to snipe at him from range and avoid that.
The problem though is that in their first fight, Font wasn’t able to do that at all. Lineker simply kept pushing forward, closing the distance, and basically beat the taller man up from close range with said hooks. The Brazilian even landed some good takedowns to do some damage from on the ground, too.
Essentially it felt like Font simply couldn’t handle the pressure that Lineker was able to put on him, and the same problem reared its head for the American when he faced Raphael Assuncao last year; Assuncao found it far too easy to walk the taller man down and plant him with takedowns with little resistance.
Lineker may well have slowed down since that 2016 fight; he was less active in the Sandhagen fight than we often see, but that could also have a lot to do with the toughness of Sandhagen, and it’s only been a year since we saw a vintage Lineker showing against Brian Kelleher.
All in all I just don’t think either man has changed a lot since the first fight, and given Lineker won that one with relative ease I can’t pick Font in good conscience here. Could Lineker pick up a finish? Possibly, but I’m more inclined for a total repeat of the first fight and so I’ll go Lineker via decision.
The Pick: Lineker via unanimous decision
