Former UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw’s upcoming fight remains a mystery as conflicting details continue to emerge, with no resolution on the conflict between The UFC and Demetrious Johnson to aid fight fans in making sense of the confusion.
Dillashaw was initially slated to fight bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt in a highly anticipated bantamweight title fight this summer, however a back injury forced Garbrandt out of the fight. UFC President Dana White then revealed that the plan was to have Dillashaw drop down to flyweight and challenge flyweight kingpin Demetrious Johnson for the flyweight title in a fight that could have potentially seen Johnson set the UFC record for most successful title defenses.
Johnson then shut down talks of a superfight with Dillashaw as he penned a lengthy letter explaining that he had accepted a fight with Ray Borg before the UFC then attempted to force him to accept the Dillashaw fight.
While negotiations between the UFC and Johnson were at a standstill, it has now been reported that Dillashaw no longer plans to attempt to cut down to 125:
Per multiple sources, TJ Dillashaw is no longer on a plan to make 125 pounds by August. Sounds like his focus is back on Cody Garbrandt.
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) June 23, 2017
Dillashaw's cut to get down to 125 was apparently going well, but with the DJ fight not coming together, no reason to do it for time being.
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) June 23, 2017
With the proposed Johnson vs. Dillashaw fight now officially off the table, according to the above-mentioned report. The likely move for the UFC is to have Dillashaw wait until Garbrandt is once again healthy, and able to defend his title in their highly anticipated grudge match at a later date.
Stay tuned for updates as they become available.
This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 6/24/2017.