Sherdog’s Official Mixed Martial Arts Rankings

John Lineker won his UFC Fight Night main event over John Dodson in a thrilling split decision on Oct. 1 in Portland, Oregon. It was the kind of victory that should have vaulted the Brazilian into these bantamweight rankings. Lineker says he wants a UFC bantamweight title shot against Dominick Cruz. On the other hand, Lineker cannot make weight, so he remains on our bubble list.

With his split decision win over Dodson, Lineker is now 10-2 in the UFC and, more importantly, 4-0 in the bantamweight division proper. Yet, the reason we have to write “bantamweight division proper” and the reason we mitigate his win over “The Magician” is the fact that “Hands of Stone” has a major problem with the scale. By missing weight for his bantamweight bout with Dodson, Lineker has now blown it on the scales an unprecedented five times in the UFC; no other fight has ever missed weight more than three times.

Weight issues play a prominent role throughout this rankings update. Example: For a top 10 lightweight like Will Brooks, a knockout loss would typically mean a major tumble, especially in such an outstanding division. However, never mind Brooks’ broken rib against Alex Oliveira; the fact that Brazilian came in six pounds overweight ameliorates the former Bellator MMA champ’s loss in a way you do not normally see at lightweight.

Meanwhile, formerly 10th-ranked featherweight Hacran Dias also botched weight for his Oct. 1 UFC bout with Andre Fili. In this case, the “Touchy” one took Dias to task for his professional indiscretion, earning the biggest win of his career, knocking the Nova Uniao product out of the top 10 and finding himself a place on our bubble list.

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