Former bantamweight king Dominick Cruz will be making his long-awaited return to the Octagon for the first time in over two years when he makes his Octagon return against #6 ranked John Lineker. The initial report of the bout was broken by the Orange County Register on Wednesday, and sources close to MMA News have confirmed that verbal agreements are in place for the bout to transpire at UFC 233 on January 26th from the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.
We have not seen Dominick Cruz compete since dropping the bantamweight championship to Cody Garbrandt at UFC 207 in a unanimous decision defeat. But prior to that, Cruz had never lost in the UFC and was on a remarkable 13-fight winning streak. Dominick Cruz currently owns one of the best records in the UFC at 22-2 and considered by many to be the greatest bantamweight of all time. And the wait to see the legend return to action will come to an end on January 26th.
John Lineker is currently riding a two-fight win streak and owns an impressive MMA record of his own at 31-8. Lineker most recently competed at UFC 224 where he earned a knockout victory over Brian Kelleher. Lineker currently owns victories over names like John Dodson, Ian McCall, and Michael McDonald, but there can be no doubt that a win over Dominick Cruz would be the biggest victory in the career of the man who goes by “Hands of Stone.”
With the addition of this bout, the current UFC 233 lineup includes:
Flyweight Championship Bout: Henry Cejudo © vs. T.J. Dillashaw
Dominick Cruz vs. John Lineker
Robbie Lawler vs. Ben Askren
Joseph Benavidez vs. Deiveson Figueiredo
James Vick vs. Paul Felder
Alexander Hernandez vs. Francisco Trinaldo
Cynthia Calvillo vs. Cortney Casey
Markus Perez vs. Anthony Hernandez
Marion Reneau vs. Yana Kunitskaya
Joanne Calderwood vs. Ariane Lipski
Alexandra Albu vs. Emily Whitmire
Who gets the win in this bantamweight clash? Dominick Cruz or John Lineker?
