A bantamweight bout between John Lineker and Cory Sandhagen is the latest addition to April’s UFC on ESPN 3 lineup.
MMAjunkie today verified the matchup between Lineker (31-8 MMA, 12-3 UFC) and Sandhagen (10-1 MMA, 3-0 UFC) with a person close to the situation following an initial report from ESPN.com. The person requested anonymity because the UFC has yet to make an official announcement.
UFC on ESPN 3 takes place April 27 at merican Airlines Arena in Miami. The card airs on ESPN following early prelims on ESPN+.
Lineker was originally meant to fight Sandhagen at UFC on ESPN+ 1 in January, but was forced to withdraw on short notice due to injury.
“Hands of Stone” Lineker never makes his gameplan a secret – the Brazilian is looking to charge forward and trade punches until someone drops. It’s an approach that has served him well, with Lineker standing at 8-1 in his past nine appearances, with the lone loss in that run coming to current UFC bantamweight champ T.J. Dillashaw.
Meanwhile, Sandhagen made his UFC debut this past January and picked up a second-round win over Austin Arnett in a featherweight fight. He then dropped to bantamweight and picked up a “Fight of the Night” bonus in a wild back-and-forth victory over Iuri Alcantara.
After Lineker pulled out of their fight in January, Sandhagen made easy work of replacement Mario Bautista for a first-round submission.
The latest UFC on ESPN 3 card now includes:
- Paulo Costa vs. Yoel Romero
- Ion Cutelaba vs. Glover Teixeira
- John Lineker vs. Cory Sandhagen
For more on UFC on ESPN 3, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.
