Dana White: John Lineker Would Have A Title Shot If He Made Weight

If there is one certainty in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), it's that John Lineker should be fighting for the flyweight title. That is, if he could consistently make weight. Currently, Lineker is one of the few men within the flyweight division that has the ability to finish fights.

And he does it violently.

This past Saturday (Oct. 26, 2013) at the Phones4u Arena in Manchester, England, Lineker finished Phil Harris in the first round with a crushing shot to the spleen. Harris doubled over and that was all she wrote. But the fight was also the third time in his UFC career that Lineker has come in overweight.

Previously, he's stated that poor training practices and traveling have been the culprit, but Lineker now has the opportunity to train at American Top Team (ATT), one of the best camps when it comes to the science of cutting weight.

And it's gotten to the point of frustration for UFC President Dana White who said that Lineker would be fighting for the title if he was able to show he can make weight.

Dan Lambert, he runs the American Top Team down in Florida. He's probably one of the best guys in the sport and has been since before we owned this company. He hit us up tonight and said "let's get this kid down to Florida for training and get him on the Dolce Diet and make sure this kid can cut weight." He's so good that if he had made weight on the three times he's missed, he'd probably have a title shot right now.

There isn't much to say about this. If you want to be a champion, you have to act like one. And champions go out and make weight every single time they hit the scales. The UFC isn't going to invest resources into a fighter whose biggest enemy is himself, especially at the highest levels.

Lineker has to make a decision: continue fighting on the undercard or be the man. He can't have it both ways.