Now that T.J. Dillashaw reclaimed his UFC bantamweight championship after a knockout victory over Cody Garbrandt earlier this month at UFC 217 in New York City, the 31-year-old can focus all of his attention on UFC flyweight king Demetrious Johnson.
Before his grudge match with “No Love,” Dillashaw nearly dropped down to 125 pounds to challenge “Mighty Mouse” and try to disrupt his divisional stranglehold. With Garbrandt now in the rear view and former champion Dominick Cruz nursing another injury, Dillashaw is again free to explore a potential flyweight superfight opposite Johnson.
“Don’t be scared, man. Let’s get this done.” said Dillashaw in a recent interview with TMZ Sports (shown above). “This is the fight that makes sense for you and me. This is the fight that the fans want to see. This is the fight I want to see. Not sure if you want to see it, but man up and let’s do it.”
Johnson, who recently defeated Ray Borg at UFC 216 to set the new UFC record for most consecutive title defenses (11), will have to put his previous reservations aside and agree to fight an out-of-division opponent like Dillashaw. That said, it will be very difficult for “Mighty Mouse” to ignore the beating “Killashaw” just put on Garbrandt and not take full advantage of the bantamweight’s current momentum.
At the end of the day, the matchup is perfect. The flyweight and bantamweight divisions really don’t have a clear-cut No. 1 contender — unless the promotion is going to grant “No Love” his rematch — so it only makes sense to throw Dillashaw in the cage with the pound-for-pound best fighter on the planet and see what happens.