Fans invited to UFC Fight Night 96 workouts, weigh-ins

There is a thin schedule of media events for this week’s UFC Fight Night 96. And with few chances to see the fighters before the enter the octagon Saturday, fans are invited to check out the open workouts and pre-fight weigh-in festivities.

UFC Fight Night 96 takes place Saturday at Moda Center in Portland, Ore. The event airs on FS1 following early prelims on UFC Fight Pass.

The event is headlined by a bantamweight clash with potentially significant future title shot implications. John Dodson (18-7 MMA, 7-2 UFC) meets Lineker (28-7 MMA, 9-2 UFC) in the 135-pound contest. Dodson returned to bantamweight after a lengthy stint at flyweight saw him twice lose in title bids against champ Demetrious Johnson. He took out Manny Gamburyan in just 47 seconds in his return to the division. Lineker holds the No. 8 ranking in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA bantamweight rankings. Currently riding a five-fight winning streak, his most recent performance was a knockout of Michael McDonald.

Fans are invited to attend the open workouts, which take place Thursday at UFC Gym, 17235 NW Corridor Ct. Suite 125, Beaverton, Ore. 97006. Doors open for the event at 3:30 p.m. ET. Dodson and Lineker will participate, as well as co-headliners Will Brooks and Alex Oliveira,

The weigh-ins take place Friday at Oregon Convention Center – Hall C, 777 NE Martin Luther King Blvd., Portland, Ore. 97232. Doors open to the public at 6 p.m. ET with fighters hitting the scales an hour later.

Both events are free and open to the public.

The full UFC Fight Night 96 card includes:

MAIN CARD (FS1, 11 p.m. ET)

• John Lineker vs. John Dodson
• Will Brooks vs. Alex Oliveira
• Josh Burkman vs. Zak Ottow
• Brandon Moreno vs. Louis Smolka

PRELIMINARY CARD (FS2, 9 p.m. ET)

• Joachim Christensen vs. Luis Henrique da Silva
• Hacran Dias vs. Andre Fili
• Shamil Abdurakhimov vs. Walt Harris
• Keita Nakamura vs. Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos

PRELIMINARY CARD (UFC Fight Pass, 7:15 p.m. ET)

• Nate Marquardt vs. Tamdan McCrory
• Ion Cutelaba vs. Jonathan Wilson
• Curtis Blaydes vs. Cody East
• Kelly Faszholz vs. Ketlen Vieira

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