It’s May 2012, and Rousimar Palhares is scheduled to fight Alan Belcher at UFC on FOX 3 in New Jersey. I arrived in town a few days early and headed to the UFC host hotel. As I always do, I went straight to the UFC office to greet everybody and see what’s up. When I got there, I see a young man sitting there, and the UFC personnel say, “Alex! Thank God you got here! Can you please help us? This is John Lineker. He doesn’t speak a word of English, and none of us speak Portuguese, and we are stuck!”

I introduced myself to John and asked him where his corner and manager were. His corner was still in Brazil waiting for his visa, and he had no idea where is manager might be. Anyone who meets Lineker usually likes him at first glance. He may be a little monster in the cage, but in normal life, he is a shy, smiling, friendly creature. Of course I agreed to help.

As I started grasping the situation, I realize that this poor kid had been sent to the U.S. like a FedEx package! He had no money, no gear – and no English! John had never been out of Brazil before. To this day I honestly don’t know how he managed to get through immigration and found his connecting flight! You know, it’s terribly irresponsible to send someone like Lineker – with no English, without having ever traveled – on an international trip, to fight in a UFC, without any planning or guidance. Said manager has done this more then once!

So I proceeded to help him fill out his paperwork and take care of all the things that need to be done on fight week. We took him under our wing. I bought him a salad and grilled chicken. It turns out it must have lasted him three days.

John kept on asking me to take him to a Walmart. Finally I found some time and took him. He vanished inside the store, and in a little while he shows up with a PlayStation. I knew that the price of the PlayStation was about the same as what he received for his per diem so I asked him, “John, not that it’s any of my business, but you are spending all your per diem money on that PlayStation?” He answered, “Well, I know I probably shouldn’t, but I can’t eat anyway and have always dreamed of owning a PlayStation!” So he bought it!

I proceeded to include John in everything Rousimar was doing. I trained with him, helped him, kept him company. His corner finally arrived on Friday. Same thing – no English and had never traveled outside of Brazil. It came time to weigh in, and John was still over by a small margin. He wanted to finish the cut with the extra time he had, but Dr. Sherry Wulkan from the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board would not let him. She said he was too nervous and stressed to continue cutting, so he missed weight by one pound.

Joe Silva came to me after that and said that should John earn a bonus, he wouldn’t be eligible to receive it. I kicked a fuss! I said, “Joe, everyone has seen what this kid has been through! This is not his fault! And he would have made weight if the doctor had let him! If he is deserving of a bonus, I am going to argue with you on this!”

So fight time arrives, and John is facing Louis Guadinot. It was an amazing fight, with both guys standing toe-to-toe. Late in the second round, John goes for a takedown, and Louis catches him in a guillotine. The fight is considered “Fight of the Night,” and John is awarded his bonus, missing weight! I think this might have been the only time when the UFC actually paid the bonus to someone that didn’t make weight. If they could have known how many times he wouldn’t make weight on future occasions, I am sure they would not have done so, but this time I stand by my arguments! It was the right thing to do!

Later, John asked me to manage him. I told him sure, as long as he straightened out his business with his former manager, which he did. The rest is history!

We’re both disappointed that we won’t be fighting this week in New York, but hopefully we’ll get another good fight booked quickly.

For more on the UFC’s upcoming schedule, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.

Alex Davis is a lifelong practitioner of martial arts and a former Brazilian judo champion. A founding member of American Top Team, Davis currently oversees the careers of a number of prominent Brazilian fighters, including Edson Barboza, Antonio Carlos Junior, Rousimar Palhares, Thiago “Marreta” Santos, Antonio Silva and Thiago Tavares, among others. Davis is a regular contributor to MMAjunkie, sharing his current views on the sport built through his perspectives that date back to the Brazilian roots of modern MMA.

Gallery John Lineker def. Brian Kelleher at UFC 224: Best photos view 23 images

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