10 reasons to watch UFC Fight Night 96 with a main event in the red on the Fun-O-Meter

The UFC is in Portland, Ore., for Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 96. If you’re a fan of 5-foot-3 fighters with a fondness for throwing bungalows, you’re in luck: John Lineker and John Dodson are headlining the event.

One of the reasons fans give for shying away from the lighter weights is the lack of knockouts. Lineker and Dodson are not representative of that trend. Lineker has knocked out 13 of his opponents. Dodson has nine KO wins, and if either man adds another knockout to his resume, it’ll be a first: Neither has ever been knocked out.

In the co-main event, Will Brooks looks to take his second step toward a UFC title shot when he faces Alex Oliveira in a lightweight bout – though Oliveira missed weight today, coming in at 161.5 pounds.

FS1 carries the main card of UFC Fight Night 96 from the Moda Center, and FS2 and UFC Fight Pass have the prelims.

Here are 10 reasons to watch the event.

1. In the red

As far as fights go, the bantamweight bout between Lineker (28-7 MMA, 9-2 UFC) and Dodson (18-7 MMA, 7-2 UFC) pushes the ol’ fun-o-meter into the red. That’s right: It’s solidly in the “woo-hoo!” category.

Two of the most exciting and powerful strikers in the division square off in the headliner contest, and it’s pretty much a guarantee both are going to be looking for a finish.

On the downside, it’s easy to look at this bout and see a flyweight scrap contested at bantamweight, and that means if these two want to move up the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA bantamweight rankings, where Lineker is ranked No. 8, they’re going to have to put on one heck of a show. That’s not to say that these two don’t belong in the bantamweight conversation, they do, but after fighting at flyweight for a good chunk of their UFC tenure, anything short of a “Fight of the Night”-worthy performance will bring out the naysayers.

So, what I’m saying is, don’t expect anything but the best from these two.

2. Gunning for gold

MMA math tells us that former Bellator lightweight champion Brooks could beat current UFC lightweight kingpin Eddie Alvarez, right? Brooks defeated Michael Chandler twice and Chandler topped Alvarez once and therefore Brooks comes out on top over Alvarez.

Yes, I know: MMA math is silly, useless and false.

One thing that’s true is Brooks, who joined the UFC in June and defeated Ross Pearson in his promotional debut, is gunning for that UFC title.

To take the next step toward that goal, Brooks (19-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC), the No. 10 ranked lightweight, has to get past Oliveira (15-3-1 MMA, 4-2 UFC), who returns from welterweight for this contest. Oliveira defeated James Moontasri in his last bout.

3. A need to impress

Josh Burkman is having a rough go in his second stint with the UFC, with one win in five trips to the octagon. In Portland he’ll make his third appearance as a lightweight, and Burkman (28-13 MMA, 6-8 UFC) will do so against a fighter with nothing to lose, late replacement Zak Ottow (13-3 MMA, 0-0 UFC).

Burkman most recently dropped a unanimous decision to Paul Felder, but he showed improved boxing early in the fight, landing 59 percent of his strikes, a number that was much higher than his 44 percent average. However, Burkman’s focus on his boxing dropped in rounds two and three and so did his landing percentage, and Felder took control of the fight.

If Burkman can control range with his strikes and keep a high output throughout the fight he stands a good chance of winning. If not, he could find himself back on the local circuit.

4. Watch the start

Louis Smolka has a lot of momentum heading into UFC Fight Night 96. Unfortunately, he lost his original opponent, Sergio Pettis, due to injury and Smolka (11-1 MMA, 5-1 UFC) now faces UFC newcomer Brandon Moreno (11-3 MMA, 0-0 UFC) in a flyweight contest.

This isn’t an ideal fight for the No. 13 ranked Smolka. He’s won his last four fights, most recently defeating Ben Nguyen in a “Performance of the Night” bonus-winning performance, and he obviously hoped to move up the rankings with a win over Pettis. That’s probably not in the cards if he defeats Moreno.

What Smolka could do in this fight is shore up his one glaring weakness, his slow starts. If he’s able to do that and add a fourth stoppage to his UFC record, he should be able to carry his current momentum through to his next bout.

5. Banking on a finish

On paper, the light heavyweight contest between Luis Henrique da Silva (11-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) and Joachim Christensen (13-3 MMA, 0-0 UFC) looks like a weird choice to headline the prelim card, what with these fighters having one UFC fight and zero Wikipedia pages between them. However, if you dig into their records you can see what the UFC is hoping for here, and that’s a finish. Da Silva and Christensen have combined for 20 stoppage victories with the majority of those finishes coming in the first round.

6. Stepping up

You have to hand it to Andre Fili (15-4 MMA, 3-3 UFC). The Team Alpha Male featherweight is following a brutal knockout loss to Yair Rodriguez with a short-notice fight against No. 14 ranked Hacran Dias (23-4-1 MMA, 3-3 UFC). That shows some gumption.

Before losing to Rodriguez, Fili told MMAjunkie: “I have a lot to prove. I’m very angry. I’m very frustrated. I need to show people I’m one of the best guys in the world.” You can bet that feeling has only multiplied since the loss to Rodriguez.

Dias also lost his last fight, dropping a decision to Cub Swanson. To make matters worse this time around, Dias missed weight and has to forfeit 20 percent of his show money to Fili.

7. Veteran fighters collide

Tamdan McCrory was a feel-good story in 2014-15. After five years away from MMA, he returned with the three straight stoppage victories. That winning streak ended in June when Krzysztof Jotko knocked him out. At UFC Fight Night 96, McCrory (14-4 MMA, 4-4 UFC) gets a chance to get back on the winning track when he faces Nate Marquardt (34-16-2 MMA, 12-9 UFC) in the UFC Fight Pass featured prelim.

Marquardt, coming off a knockout loss to Thiago Santos, has been written off more than once during his current 2-6 skid. But just when it seems he’s at the point he’ll be shown the door, he comes through with a surprising victory.

8. Looking to get one back

Jonathan Wilson (7-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) and Ion Cutelaba (11-2 MMA, 0-2 UFC) might not be household names, but they should produce an entertaining light heavyweight scrap at UFC Fight Night 96. These two tend to look for the knockout often and early, and for the most part, they succeed, with 15 KOs between them.

What makes this fight more interesting is that they are both coming off stoppage losses, Cutelaba dropping a third-round submission to Misha Cirkunov and Wilson falling by TKO to Luis Henrique da Silva. With those losses hanging over their heads expect these two to look to add another early finish to their records.

9. Looking to return the favor

Kelly Faszholz got her first UFC opportunity as a last-minute replacement, stepping in to face Lauren Murphy at UFC Fight Night 83. Faszholz received a rude welcome, leaving the fight bloodied and with the first loss of her career, but she did show some promise in the “Fight of the Night” bonus-winning defeat.

Faszholz was thought to be a jiu-jitsu specialist heading into her match against Murphy, but she showed surprisingly good striking, landing solid combinations from distance while also working well in the clinch. Now with a full camp behind her, and any octagon jitters gone, Faszholz (3-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC) faces the debuting Ketlen Vieira (6-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC) in this bantamweight contest.

10. Show us what you’ve got, champ

Last week bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz got his opportunity to work color commentary alongside Jon Anik. This week light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier gets his shot in the cageside seat.

Social media seemed to give Cruz high grades for his work in Brazil. If there was a complaint, it was that he sometimes tried to fill too much space with his commentary. Which as complaints go, is a minor one and something that can be overcome through comfort and repetition.

While Cormier will be under pressure to live up to Cruz’s performance, he probably won’t have to worry about getting the finger from any of the fighters at UFC Fight Night 96.

For more on UFC Fight Night 96, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.