John Lineker vs. Brian Kelleher slotted for UFC 224 in Brazil

UFC 224 has a new crackerjack of a bantamweight fight.

It features John Lineker (30-8 MMA, 11-3 UFC) vs. Brian Kelleher (19-8 MMA, 3-1 UFC). Combate first reported it, though UFC officials haven’t made a formal announcement.

UFC 224 takes place May 12 at Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on FS1 and UFC Fight Pass, though the full fight card and bout order haven’t been finalized.

Kelleher called out Lineker, who’s No. 8 in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA bantamweight rankings, after his most recent victory.

Kelleher, who’s looking to crack the top 15, recently scored a dominant decision victory over ex-champ Renan Barao at UFC on FOX 28. The 31-year-old New Yorker, who’s a former of Ring of Combat champion who previously fought at featherweight and lightweight, now has won two straight and nine of his past 10. Fifteen of his 19 victories have come via stoppage.

Lineker, meanwhile, again fights in his home country. The 27-year-old Brazilian slugger recently rebounded from a decision loss to now-champ T.J. Dillashaw in December 2016 with an October decision victory over Marlon Vera. It marked the former flyweight contender’s seventh win in his past eight fights.

The latest UFC 224 card includes:

• Champ Amanda Nunes vs. Raquel Pennington – for women’s bantamweight title
• Vitor Belfort vs. Lyoto Machida
• Kelvin Gastelum vs. Ronaldo Souza
• Cezar Ferreira vs. Karl Roberson
• Nick Hein vs. Davi Ramos
• Ramazan Emeev vs. Alberto Mina
• Junior Albini vs. Aleksei Oliynyk
• Jack Hermansson vs. Thales Leites
• Brian Kelleher vs. John Lineker

For more on UFC 224, visit the UFC Rumors section of the site.