John Lineker responds to Ian McCall's callout after UFC Fight Night Dublin win

With Chris Cariaso already lined up to face UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson in August, the rest of the division needs to sort itself out to determine who is next in line. Ian McCall advanced his case further with a decision win over Brad Pickett in Ireland on Saturday, while John Lineker did the double of actually making weight and once again getting a late TKO over Alptekin Ozkilic in New Jersey on Wednesday. McCall was asked whether or not he was interested in fighting Lineker after defeating the Brit, to which he said:

 "I’ll fight anybody. He’s top five or whatever, and just like tonight, he might hit hard, but he can’t touch me. So, we’ll see how that goes. … He’s got pretty big holes in his wrestling and jiu-jitsu, so that’s a fight I’d love to take."

Lineker shot back at McCall with this statement to MMA Junkie:

"Congratulations to Ian on his win over Brad Pickett," he told MMAjunkie. "But I’m not sure if I was watching a fight or a game of touch with the way Ian was running around away from Pickett.

"I have no problem at all with fighting McCall if that’s what the UFC wants to happen. But I would ask my manager to suggest the UFC create a new rule, deducting a point for every so many yards run inside the ring. I want to fight, not play hide-and-seek."

Nothing like a little bit of banter to immediately spark interest in this type of fight. The UFC could certainly try to make this a #1 contender fight, although there could be some hesitancy given Lineker was just in one against Ali Bagautinov, where he missed weight on his 1st attempt and lost a clear decision. With John Dodson injured and Bagautinov suspended, they may very well just go ahead with McCall/Lineker as is the mutual interest of both fighters.