UFC Fight Night 96 has its main event with the announcement that John Dodson will meet John Lineker in a fight with significant implications in the bantamweight division.
The UFC today confirmed the matchup with a post on Twitter.
UFC Fight Night 96 takes place Oct. 1 at Moda Center in Portland. The card will air on FS1 following early prelims on UFC Fight Pass. The UFC’s most recent trip to Portland was in August 2009 for UFC 102.
Dodson (18-7 MMA, 7-2 UFC) won “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 14 at bantamweight before moving to flyweight where he challenged – and lost to – Demetrious Johnson in a pair of bids for the 125-pound title. He returned to bantamweight in his most recent bout, a 47-second knockout of Manny Gamburyan at UFC on FOX 19. Dodson is undefeated in the UFC outside of his two bouts with Johnson.
Lineker (28-7 MMA, 9-2 UFC) is currently ranked No. 9 in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA bantamweight rankings. He is currently riding a five-fight winning streak. His most recent bout was a knockout of Michael McDonald in the main event of UFC Fight Night 91.
With the addition, the UFC Fight Night 96 lineup now includes:
John Dodson vs. John Lineker
Sergio Pettis vs. Louis Smolka
Will Brooks vs. Alex Oliveira
Nate Marquardt vs. Tamdan McCrory
Josh Burkman vs. Bobby Green
Shamil Abdurakhimov vs. Walt Harris
Joachim Christensen vs. Luis Henrique da Silva
Kelly Faszholz vs. Ketlen Vieira
Hacran Dias vs. Brian Ortega