According to UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt, his next title fight will be against TJ Dillashaw at UFC 217 at Madison Square Garden in New York City on November 4th.
The two rivals had originally been scheduled to fight at UFC 213 in July after their stint as coaches on The Ultimate Fighter, but Garbrandt was forced to pull out after suffering a knee injury.
After that Dillashaw attempted to pursue a title fight with flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson instead, but despite Dana White being keen on the idea, ‘Mighty Mouse’ wasn’t interested and so he instead turned his sights back to Dillashaw.
The two fighters have gone from friends to sworn enemies over the years since falling out when Dillashaw opted to leave the Team Alpha Male camp, and they also came close to brawling on the set of TUF, so this chance to settle their differences in the Octagon has been a long time coming.
Garbrandt will be bringing an undefeated 11-0 record to the cage, and is coming off the best performance of his career, seizing the 135lb title after econvincingly beating Dominick Cruz over the course of 25 minutes.
Dillashaw knows what it’s like to have that belt around his waist, having previously been the champion, and after having lost it by split decision to Dominick Cruz in early 2016, he’s managed to fight his way back to the top of the division with wins over Raphael Assuncao and John Lineker.
With Garbrandt Vs Dillashaw onboard, UFC 217 is now shaping to be another massive event for the promotion with no less than three title fights, including the headlining middleweight clash between current champion Michael Bisping and returning superstar Georges St-Pierre, plus women’s strawweight titleholder Joanna Jedrzejczyk fighting Rose Namajunas.
