UFC 191 is just a few days away and, as always, the stakes are high for every fighter set to compete at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Of course, some have more on the line than others.
While John Dodson looks to avoid the two-losses-to-the-champ pitfall and and veterans like Ross Pearson and Joe Riggs look to pick up career-saving victories, they aren't necessarily the ones with the most fire underneath them. No, there are four fighters in particular who are in dire, high-stakes situations.
So who has the most on the line? Who is on the hot seat on Saturday? Read on!
John Lineker
In a perfect world, John Lineker would still be a flyweight. Heck, in a perfect world, he would have challenged Demetrious Johnson at UFC 186, instead of Kyoji Horiguchi.
Alas, this isn't a perfect world. This is a world where Lineker missed weight in four of his eight flyweight fights, coming in as heavy as 130 pounds. Worse, this is a world where the UFC let him knock off a legitimate flyweight contender before sending him up to take his chances in the bantamweight division.
Now, Lineker must show that he is as much of a banger at 135 pounds and faces a stiff test in Francisco Rivera. If he can't, he won't receive any sympathy from the fans or Zuffa brass.
Jimi Manuwa
Jimi Manuwa is a darn good fighter. He's 15-1 in his career and 4-1 in the UFC, and he has already exceeded any given expectation that can be pinned on him. Alas, while he has thrashed the likes of Ryan Jimmo and Kyle Kingsbury, it remains unclear if he can hang with true, top-five competition.
Well, that will change after UFC 191. Manuwa is set to face former title contender Anthony "Rumble" Johnson, and that puts him in an incredibly high-risk, high-reward position.
If Manuwa loses, he is likely to be locked into the middle of the 205-pound pack for the remainder of his career. If he wins, however, he is set to leap directly into title contention. That is a hot, hot seat right there.
Frank Mir and Andrei Arlovski
Two heavyweight veterans. Two former champions. Two fighters who seemed to be dead in the water. Two who mounted miraculous comebacks.
Alas, only one of them will keep that train a'rollin'.
Mir and Arlovski are both incredibly close to mounting one of the craziest career resurgences in MMA history. Whoever wins this fight could reasonably be challenging for the heavyweight title in 2016. Whoever loses will have his own recent successes diminished and brushed off as an anomaly. A strong case can be made that this is the biggest fight for either man since their last respective UFC title shots.
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