UFC Fight Night 56: John Lineker vs. Ian McCall Head-to-Toe Breakdown

This weekend, the UFC has a doubleheader of fight cards, featuring Luke Rockhold against Michael Bisping on Friday night and Mauricio "Shogun" Rua against Ovince St. Preux on Saturday night.

The co-main event on Saturday is a flyweight bout between former Tachi Palace Fights champ Ian "Uncle Creepy" McCall and John Lineker.

This bout is big for the division. McCall is ranked No. 3, while Lineker is sitting at No. 6. The winner of this fight is likely next in line for a title shot against champion Demetrious Johnson.

McCall and Johnson have fought twice in the past, with the first fight going to a draw and the second ending with a unanimous decision for Johnson.

Lineker has never faced Johnson, but at 24-7, he has a lot of experience to face the champ with.

Let's take a look at who has the edge on Saturday with this head-to-toe breakdown of McCall vs. Lineker.

Striking

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John Lineker is known as a striker. He has 24 career wins, and of those 24, 12 have come by way of (T)KO.

If that isn't impressive enough, Lineker's last four wins—all of which came in the UFC—have been by way of TKO.

His only loss in that time was a unanimous decision against No. 7-ranked Ali Bagautinov, who four months later tested positive for EPO in his next fight.

McCall has good striking. He is a scrappy fighter and very, very fast. However, of his 13 wins, only four have come by (T)KO—the most recent of which came all the way back in 2007.

He simply isn't as big a threat with his striking as Lineker is.

Edge: Lineker 

Grappling

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This one is pretty easy to call.

McCall is among the best grapplers in the entire division. In his first fight against Demetrious Johnson, McCall completed four of nine takedown attempts, while stuffing all four of his opponent's attempts.

He has landed at least one takedown in all of his UFC fights, and he also took down Dominick Cruz twice in the WEC.

Meanwhile, John Lineker was taken down six times by Bagautinov—his most in a single UFC fight. Lineker is a solid grappler and able to hold his own for the most part, but McCall should have little trouble planting him on the ground.

Edge: McCall 

Submissions

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Don't expect submissions to play a huge role in this fight. In 37 combined wins, the two have only six submission victories between them. 

Lineker's last submission came in 2011 in the Jungle Fight organization. McCall's last submission also came in 2011, but his was in the Tachi Palace Fights organization over Darrell Montague in a flyweight title fight.

The bigger factor here is that Lineker has lost by submission three times, most recently against Louis Gaudinot, who put him to sleep in the second round with a guillotine choke in 2012.

McCall's only loss by submission came in 2007 in the WEC against Charlie Valencia.

If we were to go by belts in BJJ, McCall is a purple belt, while Lineker is a blue belt.

Edge: McCall 

Intangibles

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Ian McCall

McCall is eager to get his third fight with Demetrious Johnson. He is more motivated now, and he has won two straight by unanimous decision, losing only one round on one scorecard in each fight.

McCall has talked a lot about how he's going to beat Lineker and make it look easy, and while he absolutely could do that, he has to be careful not to get cocky in the process.

He needs to keep his head on straight and put on a great performance. One mistake, and he could find himself on the business end of another Lineker knockout.

John Lineker

Lineker looks to be at a disadvantage in both the grappling and submission departments. He was controlled thoroughly by Bagautinov on the ground and was arguably exposed.

McCall excels in both those fields, and he will look to capitalize on it.

Lineker needs to focus on keeping the fight on the feet, and looking for a good opportunity to counter. McCall is fast, so Lineker will need to look for an opening on the feet and take full advantage. 

Prediction

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At the end of this fight, expect Ian McCall to have his hand raised.

McCall has a grappling advantage and a submission advantage, and he should be able to win the fight using his wrestling and ground control.

We're sure to see him strike for at least a little bit, as he'll look to hit Lineker with quick shots to open up the takedown. However, once he gets the fight on the ground, he'll get to work and stay busy.

Prediction: Ian McCall def. John Lineker by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28).