UFC Fight Night takeaways: TJ Dillashaw's next fight should be for the bantamweight title
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UFC Fight Night takeaways: TJ Dillashaw's next fight should be for the bantamweight title.
Saturday's UFC Fight Night main event between TJ Dillashaw and Cory Sandhagen lived up to the lofty expectations surrounding one of the most anticipated fights of the year.
Dillashaw emerged victorious by split decision, potentially setting himself up for a future shot to reclaim a title he never lost inside the cage. But should his suspension for EPO doping prevent Dillashaw from being able to hop right back to the top after paying the price of two years in the prime of his career?
The main card was tight throughout, with an additional majority decision and split decision among the results. Maycee Barber claimed that split decision over Miranda Maverick, and it was far from the clear victory she was after. But was it enough to put Barber back on the right track in her career?
Finally, on a night of top prospects, two stood out.
Raimondi: Dillashaw cheated. He injected himself with EPO, got caught, was stripped of his UFC bantamweight title and was handed a two-year suspension from USADA. Dillashaw admitted he used the prohibited substance, and that he did so in order to drop from bantamweight to flyweight.
That issue is likely to hang over Dillashaw's head for the duration of his career. Every opponent will likely bring it up. No one is saying that it should be forgotten, or that Dillashaw was treated unfairly. He was not. But he also served his time. And after his performance Saturday, a split decision win over Sandhagen, Dillashaw deserves another shot at the title he never lost in the Octagon.
Maybe that's an unpopular take. But Dillashaw's résumé as it stands now is arguably the best out of any bantamweight in MMA history. Sandhagen was ranked No. 3 in the division by ESPN. The only men above him were Aljamain Sterling, the champion, and Petr Yan, the next challenger and the former champ. The math on that says one thing: Dillashaw put himself in pole position for the winner of that Sterling-Yan title fight, which is currently being targeted for October.
Dillashaw was not perfect Saturday night. Sandhagen had many positive moments. Some felt he was the rightful winner, including judge Derek Cleary, who scored the second, fourth and fifth rounds for Sandhagen. But all the credit in the world has to be given to Dillashaw, who experienced zero ring rust. He fought through a knee that Sandhagen injured with a leglock attempt in the first round. He fought through a bad, bloody, deep cut Sandhagen opened up in the second round. Dillashaw was the fresher, more active fighter late in the fight.
When Dillashaw was suspended in 2019, he was the best bantamweight in the world. Two years have passed, and his reputation has been forever damaged. But the truth is, Dillashaw still might be able to stake that claim as the best in the world at 135 pounds. In his next fight, the polarizing scrapper should get the opportunity to prove or disprove that.
As for Sandhagen, he lost the fight, but he's just 29 years old and was one or two big blows away from taking a victory home with him to Colorado. He doesn't lose much stock here. The one problem he might face in the immediate future is that he has lost to Dillashaw and Sterling, taking two of the top bantamweights in the world out of play for the time being. A fight next against a fellow up-and-comer, such as Rob Font, could be very interesting.
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