TJ Dillashaw will return to the UFC later this year after serving a two-year suspension due to a positive EPO drug test, and the 35-year-old wants to regain what he feels is rightfully his: the cock title.
Although Dillashaw has not fought since his first round technical knockout defeat to then flyweight champion Henry Cejudo in 2019 – in a fight that also tested positive for EPO – the former bantamweight champion twice still feels he deserves a immediate title when it returns.
“I’m ready to go straight to the belt, if this is the opportunity that comes up, because I know Yan wants it.” Dillashaw told Mike Swick on the podcast “Real Quick with Mike Swick” (h / t MMA Junkie). “He’s already talking about it vocally and we’ll see what happens on March 6, when he fights against Sterling. He has a difficult test ahead of him, but this is the fight he wants. I did not leave this sport losing my belt. He knows that there is a lot of speculation if he is the real champion because he didn’t win the champion to get that belt, so he wants to. Besides, I’m the biggest attraction for him now to try to fight ”.
If the UFC believes Dillashaw first needs an adjustment fight, though, the Colorado resident is open to fighting any of the top five.
“I’m in a good position,” he said. “I think all of the top five have asked me out. I want to go back and fight with the best. I’m 35 years old now, I have a lot of things going on in life, so I want to go back and prove that I am the best bantamweight ever, and I want to go back and fight the best. If you go for the belt immediately, then so be it. If you’re going to fight someone in the top five, great.
“All the people who called me, I said yes to the UFC, this is just to show them that I’m looking forward to going back there. So it doesn’t really matter, as long as it’s someone who’s at the top of the game, because I’m going to climb up and get the belt back fast. “
While Dillashaw did not mention a name in the top five, the product Bang Ludwig could perhaps be stoking the fire for a future title eliminator with Cory Sandhagen. ‘The Sandman’ is in a sequence of two KO fights and is adamant that he deserves the next title fight over Dillashaw.
“If so, I think I should be next to fight for the title, but if we need to eliminate another option, which is TJ, then I will fight with TJ, and then I will fight for the title, too.”