At last week’s UFC 227, T.J. Dillashaw successfully defended his bantamweight title by knocking out rival Cody Garbrandt in the opening round, an improvement from when Dillashaw took the title away from Garbrandt by rallying from an opening round knockdown to knock him out in round two.
There are several possibilities as far as which opponent will be next for Dillashaw. Dominick Cruz is the last man to defeat him and a former champion himself, Raphael Assuncao is 1-1 vs. Dillashaw, and Marlon Moraes is on a three-fight winning streak since his own close loss to Assuncao.
Another option is newly crowned flyweight champion Henry Cejudo. For Dillashaw’s coach, Duane Ludwig, he believes that TJ should go for Cejudo’s title before making his next defense at bantamweight.
“I would like to see T.J. drop down to 25 and take that title and then go back up to 35,” Ludwig said to MMA Fighting. “I think if you want to look at the division, statistically speaking, Cruz should fight Moraes and then that winner should fight T.J. after T.J. claims the 125-pound belt. As far as following an honest approach to have some respect for the belt and the rankings and how everything is set up.”
Cejudo wasted no time calling for his immediate shot at the bantamweight belt after his split decision win vs. Demetrious Johnson. Dillashaw said he doesn’t feel that Cejudo deserves a crack at his belt, although he didn’t necessarily shoot down the possibility of fighting him even at flyweight.
It seems that the want of becoming a simultaneous two-division champ is all the rage. Conor McGregor became the first man to successfully do so in 2016, followed by Daniel Cormier last month. Amanda Nunes is on course to move up to women’s featherweight to face Cris Cyborg, and now despite Johnson’s loss to Cejudo, the flyweight champ vs. bantamweight champ talks have not died down.
Of course, Dillashaw has several credible challengers at 135, while the controversial scoring of UFC 227’s co-main event could lead to an immediate rematch between Cejudo and Johnson, so it’s hardly a formality that we’ll see Dillashaw vs. Cejudo next (regardless of weight class). Then you have the potential for Gervonta Davis to go from boxing to the UFC... I know you’re already laughing, so I’ll stop there.
Ludwig, who said that he’d like to see Dillashaw take the rest of the year off, also spoke highly of his fighter’s progression as a mixed martial artist, and believes him to be at the very top of his craft.
“He just has so many ways to finish the fight,” Ludwig said. “A lot of people say that, but they’re not on T.J.’s level. He’s literally at another level of martial arts. His martial arts skillset is the highest any human as ever had — ever.
“That’s what he is. He is the man. He is the current, modern-day, real-life Bruce Lee.”
