Lineker knocks out McDonald; calls out champ Cruz after UFC Fight Night 91 victory

They need not worry any longer.

Lineker improved to 3-0 at bantamweight with two first-round knockouts by stopping Michael McDonald in just 2:43 in the main event of UFC Fight Night 91 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, on Wednesday night.

“I was very happy to fight in a main event,” Lineker said through a translator. “I came here to please the crowd and I think he did it.”

The fans likely didn’t have any complaints.

Lineker came out swinging powerful hooks with both hands, dropping McDonald three times before the fight was stopped.

After the victory, Lineker showed off his English by eschewing the translator to ask for a title shot.

“Dominick Cruz,” Lineker screamed. “I’m coming for you, baby.”

Lando Vannata found far more early success than was expected of a short-notice replacement making his UFC debut against a top contender, but lightweight Tony Ferguson found a path to victory in the end.

Ferguson was in all kinds of trouble early on as Vannata confounded him with his movement and ability to land strikes from unorthodox angles. Ferguson was even dropped twice in the first round.

After landing a superman punch off the cage in the second round, however, Ferguson locked in a guillotine and transitioned to a d’arce to finish the fight.

“I thought that fight was amazing,” Ferguson said after his eighth consecutive win. “We gave the crowd what they wanted. I knew Lando would come out swinging, so I gave him exactly what he wanted.”

Vannata stopped in for Michael Chiesa, who was injured late in June.

“Lando showed up and I want to thank him for doing that,” said Ferguson. “ I’m always down for a title contention fight. Eddie Alvarez, he’s the new champ. Him or (former champion Rafael dos Anjos) would be great.

“The top three in the world better be on the lookout for me.”

Veteran middleweight Tim Boetsch snapped a three-fight losing streak with a second-round stoppage of Josh Samman.

Boetsch wound up on top of Samman in both rounds and made him pay each time after Samman curiously tried to initiate the clinch and work for takedowns instead of using his length to strike from the outside.

Boetsch secured a back mount in the second and savagely dropped punches and elbows until the fight was stopped at 3:49.

“It was very important for me to go out and get the win tonight,” Boetsch said. “I wanted a job tomorrow morning. I did exactly what I had to do to win this fight. I thought Josh would use his distance a little better and not initiate the clinch so much, but I was happy that he did because it was only a matter of time until I got the position I wanted.

‘It felt good to execute my game plan and let things go the way I wanted them to and get back in the win column.’

Samman has now dropped two straight fights after four consecutive wins.

Welterweight Keita Nakamura and flyweight Louis Smolka each finished their opponent in the second round.

Nakamura submitted Kyle Noke with a rear naked choke with just one second remaining. Noke appeared to be winning the fight when Nakamura dropped him with a knee and finished with the choke.

“This was the most important win of my career because I was afraid to get back-to-back losses and have my back up against the wall,” said Nakamura, who had a five-fight winning streak snapped with a loss to Tom Breese in February. “I’ve never lost two fights in a row in my career. The fight went just as I expected. Next, I’d like to fight whoever wants to fight me.”

Smolka won his fourth straight fight with a series of elbows and punches to a bloody Ben Nguyen, whose corner threw in the towel at 4:41 of the second round.

“I was surprised that Ben was able to hit me from as far away as he did. He was able to parry my punches pretty easily and that caught me off guard a little. He’s a tough opponent and I’m ready for a big step up,” Smolka said. “Demetrious Johnson getting injured was one of the last things I saw while I was still online before the fight. As soon as I saw it I asked my manager for that fight because I want an interim shot. I’m young, I turn 25 in a couple days, I have a baby now so I’m doing whatever I can to earn a title shot.”

Johnson, the flyweight champion, did pull out of his scheduled UFC 201 bout against Wilson Reis, but there will be no interim belt.

Instead, Sean Santella has agreed to fight Reis on the UFC 201 card in Atlanta on July 30.

Also on the main card, Heavyweight Daniel Omielańczuk won his third straight fight with a majority decision over Oleksiy Oliynyk, whose 11-fight winning streak had included two victories since joining the UFC.

Cortney Casey highlighted the preliminary card with a 2:36 knockout of Cristina Stanciu with a series of elbows in a women’s strawweight bout.

“I feel great,” Casey said. “I’m just happy it was a first-rounder and not a three-round war. She’s a younger fighter and sometimes you have to let them know that experience is about to takeover. She has a couple pro fights, but I’m well-rounded. I’m not afraid to throw elbows, I’m not afraid to throw knees and they were open, so I threw them.

Casey called out former champion Carla Esparza after the win.

Women’s bantamweight newcomer Katlyn Chookagian earned a unanimous decision over Lauren Murphy and Scott Holtzman did the same against lightweight Cody Pfister.

Middleweight Sam Alvey submitted Eric Spicely in the first round and Rani Yahya choked out Matthew Lopez in the third round of a bantamweight bout.

Alex Nicholson knocked out Devin Clark with just three seconds left in the first round of the middleweight bout that opened the preliminary card.

Contact reporter Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5509. Follow him on Twitter: @adamhilllvrj.