John Lineker’s power and aggression edged out John Dodson’s speed and precision Saturday night with Lineker earning a split decision victory in the main event of UFC Portland.
The two former flyweight contenders and current bantamweight title hopefuls threw down for five rounds. Lineker pressed the action on the zippy Dodson who was more than happy to engage when he saw an opening.
Lineker (29-7) has now won six in a row and 10 of his last 11 and is closing in on a bantamweight title shot — even though he missed weight by half a pound for this contest. In fact, it was the fifth time Lineker has missed weight in his UFC career, which is a UFC record.
Former Bellator lightweight champion Will Brooks suffered a rib injury early in the co-main event and was never able to recover, losing to Alex Oliveira via third-round TKO. Brooks told his corner in between the first and second round he felt his rib pop during an exchange along the cage in a clinch-heavy opening frame.
Oliveira, who also missed weight, taunted Brooks after putting him away with strikes on the ground and a post-fight skirmish ensued. Both Lineker and Oliveira forfeited 20 per cent of their fight purses to Dodson and Brooks, respectively.
Also on the main card, UFC newcomer Brandon Moreno tapped the No. 9-ranked flyweight contender Louis Smolka with a guillotine choke in the first round. Moreno, a former World Fighting Federation champion and recent competitor on season 24 of The Ultimate Fighter, replaced Sergio Pettis and took Saturday’s bout on short notice.
Nate Marquardt knocked out Tamdan McCrory impressively with a head kick in preliminary action. Marquardt seems to enjoy fighting in Portland. The 17-year MMA veteran has fought three times in the Oregon city and walked away with three highlight-reel knockouts. Before his win over McCrory, he finished Demian Maia in 21 seconds back at UFC 102 in 2009 and he won the Strikeforce welterweight title in 2012 when he put away current UFC champ Tyron Woodley.
Marquardt now has nine career wins by stoppage in the UFC’s middleweight division, which ties him for second place on the all-time list with Chris Leben — that’s just two behind Anderson Silva’s record 11 stoppage wins in the 185-pound division.
Here are the complete results from UFC Portland:
MAIN CARD
— John Lineker def. John Dodson by split decision
— Alex Oliveira def. Will Brooks by TKO
— Zak Ottow def. Joshua Burkman by split decision
— Brandon Moreno def. Louis Smolka by submission (guillotine choke)
PRELIMINARY CARD
— Luis Henrique da Silva def. Joachim Christensen by submission
— Andre Fili def. Hacran Dias Decision by unanimous decision
— Shamil Abdurakhimov def. Walt Harris by split decision
— Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos def. Keita Nakamura by unanimous decision
— Nate Marquardt def. Tamdan McCrory by KO
— Ion Cutelaba def. Jonathan Wilson by unanimous decision
— Curtis Blaydes def. Cody East by TKO
— Ketlen Vieira def. Kelly Faszholz by split decision
