UFC 191: Francisco Rivera Won't Let John Lineker 'Have His Way' at Bantamweight

Even when he’s sticking to the boilerplate, Francisco Rivera manages to sound menacing.

“I don’t talk crap,” Rivera said in an exclusive interview with Bleacher Report. “It’s not my style. I’m going to go in there and let my hands fly.”

It might be a little less menacing if Cisco wasn’t arguably the most dangerous knockout artist in the UFC bantamweight division these days. It might also be less tantalizing if he wasn’t facing John Lineker—known for his own successful head-hunting as a flyweight and now debuting at 135 pounds—this Saturday at UFC 191.

Those things being true, however, makes this fight both tantalizing and menacing.

Francisco Rivera vs. John Lineker is bonkers. That is the best fight revealed for #UFC191.

— Rob Tatum (@RobTatumMMA) July 16, 2015

And with a win, the 33-year-old Rivera (11-4-0) might be in line to become the division’s newest contender after years of grinding, self-imposed setbacks and plain bad luck.

“I think I’m right there,” Rivera said. “It’s wide open.”

Since first joining the UFC in 2011, Rivera has slowly but steadily gained notoriety for his powerful and technical boxing.

But his 2012 knockout of Roland Delorme was overturned after Rivera tested positive for ephedra. He looked good on return with two straight knockouts but then suffered two dicey losses in a row, a controversial decision loss to Takeya Mizugaki and a defeat to Urijah Faber, who got away with a serious eye poke moments before locking in the fight-ending bulldog choke.

Rivera rebounded in June with a 21-second knockout of Alex Caceres. It was a needed boost.

“Coming off two losses, that can mess with your head and your career,” Rivera said. “Who knows what the UFC would have done if I’d have lost?”

Now, here comes Lineker, who joins the bantamweight division on Saturday following repeated failures to make the flyweight division’s 125-pound limit. Lineker will be a small bantamweight, surrendering six inches of height to Rivera.

But he still has hands that match Rivera’s, with 12 career knockouts to his name, per Sherdog.

No wonder some media members and hardcore fans have this bout tabbed as a Fight of the Night favorite. MMA writer Mike Bohn is excited for it:

Francisco Rivera vs. John Lineker is a ridiculously awesome matchup. Lineker moves to 135 and fights another huge hitter. Love it.

— Mike Bohn (@MikeBohnMMA) July 16, 2015

“People see the way I fight and they see the way he fights,” Rivera said. “I’m coming out to win. I’ll do what I do best and that is let my hands go.”

We’ll see. But it should be a violent affair. As such, Rivera seems like an ideal welcome-wagon driver for Lineker's bantamweight debut.

“He’s a bigger guy somewhere. He’s a smaller guy here. He can’t do here what he did there,” Rivera said. “I’m definitely not going to let him come up to bantamweight and have his way.”

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