A bantamweight title fight between current champion Aljamain Sterling and TJ Dillashaw is in the works for UFC 279 on September 10th at a destination still to be confirmed at this stage.
Sterling won the belt in controversial fashion when Petr Yan landed an illegal knee in the fourth round of a fight he appeared to be winning, resulting in his disqualification, but the ‘Funk Master’ proved he was worthy of his championship status when he earned a split decision victory in their rematch at UFC 273 in April.
That result extended the 32-year-old Sterling’s current winning streak to seven fights and leaves him with an overall 21-3 record as he prepares to face the next challenger for the belt.
Of course the 36-year-old Dillashaw is a former champion of the division who was infamously stripped of the title after testing positive for EPO after a failed attempt to win the flyweight belt back in 2019, which had seen him TKO’d by Henry Cejudo in just 32 seconds.
However, after serving a two year suspension, Dillashaw returned to winning ways in his comeback fight with a split decision win over Cory Sandhagen back in July of last year, putting him right back into the title picture at 135lbs, although it’s taken until now to recover from a knee injury he suffered during that fight.
Sterling vs. Dillashaw would likely front a UFC 279 card which currently doesn’t have much in the way of notable fights booked for it at this stage.
