A highly-ranked bantamweight bout between Jimmie Rivera and John Lineker has been added to UFC 219 on Dec. 30 in Las Vegas.
UFC officials confirmed the 135-pound matchup with the Las Vegas Review Journal on Tuesday. The UFC 219 pay-per-view event will take place inside T-Mobile Arena.
Rivera (21-1) was originally supposed to face former champion Dominick Cruz on the end-of-year card. Cruz was forced to pull out with an arm injury last week.
Fighting out of New Jersey, Rivera is knocking on the door of a potential UFC title shot. He's riding a 20-fight win streak, which includes UFC wins over Pedro Munhoz, Urijah Faber and Thomas Almeida.
Lineker (30-8) is coming off a decision win over Marlon Vera at a UFC Fight Night event last month in Brazil. It was his first appearance of 2017 because of a broken jaw.
A member of Florida's American Top Team, Lineker is 5-1 since moving up from the flyweight division last year. His only loss at 135 pounds came to current champion T.J. Dillashaw in December 2016.
The UFC has not yet announced its main event for UFC 219. A previously announced featherweight title fight between Cris "Cyborg" Justino (18-1) and Holly Holm (11-3) is a potential headliner.
