Jimmie Rivera Receives New Opponent For UFC 219

Jimmie Rivera was originally scheduled to take on former bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz at UFC 219 on Dec. 30 in Las Vegas, Nevada, but Cruz was recently forced to withdraw from the fight after suffering a broken arm.

Rivera has since been campaigning for a fight with newly crowned 135-pound titleholder TJ Dillashaw, but according to a report from MMAFighting.com’s Ariel Helwani, he instead will remain on UFC 219 and take on No. 5-ranked John Lineker.

Lineker is coming off of a decision victory over Marlon Vera last month at UFC Sao Paulo in Brazil. He’s won seven of his last eight bouts, with the only loss in that stretch coming against Dillashaw at UFC 207 in December 2016.

Rivera, on the other hand, is currently riding an incredible 20-fight win streak. He’s coming off of back-to-back decision victories over Thomas Almeida and Urijah Faber.

UFC 219 is expected to be headlined by a women’s featherweight title fight between champion Cris Cyborg and ex-bantamweight titleholder Holly Holm. Highly touted lightweight contender Khabib Nurmagomedov will also make his return on the card, as he’s set to take on Edson Barboza.