John Lineker continued to rise up the bantamweight rankings with a huge knockout of Michael McDonald Wednesday at a UFC Fight Night event in Sioux Falls, S.D.
Lineker did what Lineker does best. He swung leather until he connected with his opponent’s chin. The Brazilian dropped McDonald with an overhand right and again with a left hook. McDonald recovered and exchanged bombs briefly before getting caught flush with another left.
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McDonald was the No. 5-ranked bantamweight contender so the win now positions Lineker among the top handful of 135-pounders. Lineker called out champion Dominck Cruz, who doesn’t currently have his next opponent lined up.
In the co-main event, Tony Ferguson submitted UFC newcomer Lando Vannata with his patented D’Arce choke in a thrilling bout. Vannata took the fight on short notice after Ferguson’s original opponent, Michael Chiesa, was forced to withdraw with a back injury. It was Vannata’s first career loss but he had Ferguson in trouble several times throughout the fight.
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Ferguson has now won eight consecutive contests, six of which have been via stoppage.
Here’s a look at the full results from UFC Sioux Falls:
MAIN CARD
— John Lineker def. Michael McDonald by KO
— Tony Ferguson def. Lando Vannata by submission (D’Arce choke)
— Tim Boetsch def. Josh Samman by TKO
— Daniel Omielanczuk def. Oleksiy Oliynyk by majority decision
— Keita Nakamura def. Kyle Noke by submission (rear-naked choke)
— Louis Smolka def. Ben Nguyen by TKO
PRELIMINARY CARD
— Katlyn Chookagian def. Lauren Murphy by unanimous decision
— Sam Alvey def. Eric Spicely by Submission (guillotine choke)
— Cortney Casey def. Cristina Stanciu by TKO
— Scott Holtzman def. Cody Pfister by unanimous decision
— Rani Yahya def. Matthew Lopez by submission (arm-triangle choke)
— Alex Nicholson def. Devin Clark by KO
