{"id":293926,"date":"2018-12-05T12:46:24","date_gmt":"2018-12-05T20:46:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=293926"},"modified":"2018-12-05T12:46:24","modified_gmt":"2018-12-05T20:46:24","slug":"dominick-cruz-vs-john-lineker-official-for-ufc-233","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/dominick-cruz-vs-john-lineker-official-for-ufc-233\/","title":{"rendered":"Dominick Cruz vs. John Lineker official for UFC 233"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Former UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz will finally make his long-awaited\u00a0return to the Octagon at UFC 233. The promotion made the bout official on Twitter on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Cruz is back!<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DominickCruz?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@DominickCruz<\/a> returns to face &#39;Hands of Stone&#39; <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/johnlineker?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@JohnLineker<\/a> at <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/UFC233?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#UFC233<\/a> in Anaheim on Jan. 26! <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/SunaIvoev9\">pic.twitter.com\/SunaIvoev9<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; UFC (@ufc) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ufc\/status\/1070397873248985090?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 5, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Cruz hasn&#8217;t fought since Cody Garbrandt defeated him by decision at UFC 207, which marked the end of his reign as UFC bantamweight champ. By the time Cruz makes his walk to the Octagon it will have been 775 days since he lost to Garbrandt.<\/p>\n<p>The former champion has been sidelined due to multiple\u00a0injuries. Although Cruz hasn&#8217;t fought since December 2016, he did almost return against Jimmie Rivera at UFC 219 but had to pull out due to a fractured arm. Since then, the former champion has been asking for a title shot against TJ Dillashaw, which would give him the chance to reclaim his belt. However, TJ Dillashaw was not keen on this idea.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDominick Cruz\u2026has been sitting out for two years, so I\u2019ll just say that he\u2019s ready to fight now. You know what I mean? He got obliterated,\u201d <a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/exclusive-interviews\/exclusive-tj-dillashaw-wants-dominick-cruz-to-work-his-way-back\/\">Dillashaw said earlier this year to BJPENN Radio<\/a>. \u201cYou\u2019re gonna just sit out for two years and now I\u2019m looking for a contender, and he\u2019s ready all of a sudden. He wants to sit out for murderers row and not want to fight any of the top guys and still get a title fight.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Ultimately, Cruz did not get his desired title shot and will now be taking on Lineker. The Brazilian last fought at UFC 224 where he defeated Brian Kelleher by knockout. Lineker is riding a two-fight winning streak after losing a decision to Dillashaw at UFC 207.<\/p>\n<p>Cruz is currently ranked second in the division and with a win, could very well be getting the next title shot. Lineker, on the other hand, is ranked sixth and is looking to put himself in the top contender category.<\/p>\n<p>Who do you think wins this fight between Dominick Cruz and John Lineker at UFC 233?<\/p>\n<p><i>This article first appeared on\u00a0<\/i><a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>BJPENN.COM<\/i><\/span><\/a><i>\u00a0on 12\/5\/2018.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz will finally make his long-awaited\u00a0return to the Octagon at UFC 233. The promotion made the bout official on Twitter on Wednesday. Cruz is back!@DominickCruz returns to face &#39;Hands of Stone&#39; @JohnLineker at #UFC233 in Anaheim on Jan. 26! pic.twitter.com\/SunaIvoev9 &mdash; UFC (@ufc) December 5, 2018 Cruz hasn&#8217;t fought since [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54463,"featured_media":278519,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[10131,10194,39610,39645],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v19.7 (Yoast SEO v19.14) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Dominick Cruz vs. John Lineker official for UFC 233 | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Former UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz will finally make his long-awaited\u00a0return to the Octagon, at UFC 233 on January 26.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" 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