Former UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw is all set to fight rising bantamweight contender Cory Sandhagen at the UFC Fight Night event on May 8.
The news was first reported by Brett Okamoto of ESPN.
TJ Dillashaw is back … Dillashaw (@TJDillashaw) vs. the surging Cory Sandhagen (@cors_life) has been agreed to for the date of May 8. Five-round main event, per sources. pic.twitter.com/8YOesqZUtl
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) March 19, 2021
“TJ Dillashaw is back … Dillashaw (@TJDillashaw) vs. the surging Cory Sandhagen (@cors_life) has been agreed to for the date of May 8. Five-round main event, per sources,” Okamoto tweeted.
The EPO did little to help Dillashaw who moved down in weight in an attempt to become a two-division champion. Dillashaw was knocked out in the first round by Henry Cejudo.
Dillashaw has not fought since his loss to Henry Cejudo at UFC on ESPN+ 1 back in January of 2019. In that fight, he was knocked out in just 32-seconds by the Olympic Champion.
On the other hand, Cory Sandhagen has been coming off two back to back knockout victories against Frankie Edgar at UFC Fight Night 184 and against Marlon Moraes at UFC 179.
TJ Dillashaw was ready for top 5 opponent
Despite spending two-years on the sidelines, TJ Dillashaw was ready to bounce back against a top 5 opponent and was even asking for a title shot.
“I’m in a good situation,” Dillashaw said. “I think everyone in the top five has called me out. I want to come back and fight the best. I’m 35 years old now, I’ve got a lot of things in life going on, so I want to come back and prove that I’m the best bantamweight of all time, and I want to come back and fight the best. If that’s for the belt right away then so be it. If that’s fighting someone else in the top five, awesome.
“Every person that’s called me out, I’ve said yes to the UFC, so that’s just showing them that I’m eager to get back in there. So it doesn’t really matter as long as it’s someone that’s at the top of the game, because I’m gonna climb up and get that belt back fast.” (H/T – MMAJunkie.com)
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