A back injury will prevent UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt from defending his title against TJ Dillashaw at UFC 213 on July 8, per Brett Okamoto of ESPN.
Dillashaw will instead take on flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson in August.
Women’s champion Amanda Nunes will still defend her title against Valentina Shevchenko at UFC 213.
Garbrandt originally announced the decision in a since-deleted Facebook post (h/t BJPenn.com), saying the match is not happening.
“No I’m not fighting on the 8th,” he wrote. “This has been my dream to get to the top and I want to have longevity!”
He also said he expects another four weeks of recovery.
The undefeated fighter posted this message on his Twitter account:
Garbrandt underwent stem cell injections to help solve his issues, per Dan Hiergesell of MMA Mania. However, he apparently still needs more time to recover, which will prevent him from competing in the upcoming pay-per-view event.
In an interview with Submission Radio, Dillashaw discussed the possibility of dropping down to the flyweight division to take on Johnson. However, Mighty Mouse has defended his title 10 times already, and he won’t make things easy on the next contender.
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com