Petr Yan and T.J. Dillashaw are in agreement that they should fight one another when T.J. Dillashaw makes his Octagon return.
UFC bantamweight champion Petr Yan is set to defend his bantamweight championship against Aljamain Sterling in five weeks at UFC 259, but he is already surveying who might be his next opponent should he retain against The Funkmaster. One person who has already volunteered to be next is former champion T.J. Dillashaw, who is now eligible to return from a two-year USADA suspension after testing positive for EPO.
Aljamain Sterling scoffed at the idea of Dillashaw being granted an immediate title shot in his first fight back, but the champion’s take is quite the opposite.
“Edgar, older. It’s not big, fan base is not good,” Yan told Fanatics View. “Sandhagen, he lose to Sterling. I think maybe Dillashaw. T.J. Dillashaw is back after doping tests. I want a fight with him. It’s up to the UFC. If the term is right, then I’m going to fight him whenever. Just let’s make sure that he’s not going to use anything prohibited this time. I think it’s a real great fight and I win. He’s older. He took two years, don’t fight and now, if I remember, he’s 34 years. It’s older for bantamweight division.”
T.J. Dillashaw’s last fight resulted in a TKO loss to Henry Cejudo in Dillashaw’s bid to close down the UFC’s flyweight division. As for Petr Yan, his most recent bout saw him take home the vacant title Dillashaw left behind when the Russian defeated Jose Aldo via TKO at UFC 251. With Aljamain Sterling blasting him over his doping issues while Petr Yan is willing to welcome him back with open title shot, we know whom Dillashaw will be rooting for come March 6.
Do you think T.J. Dillashaw is deserving of a title shot against Petr Yan?