UFC bantamweight champion T.J. Dillashaw is set to drop down a division and attempt to become the latest two-weight champion against flyweight titleholder Henry Cejudo in January.
That’s despite the rumours circling the UFC’s 125-pound division being on life support, with a number of flyweights being cut from the promotion after former champion Demetrious Johnson’s trade for Ben Askren between the UFC and ONE Championship.
The title fight between Cejudo and Dillashaw was announced after those rumours first took shape. However, Dillashaw is convinced the UFC does intend on killing off its flyweight division – and they want him to finish it off with the final blow.
“The UFC wants to get rid of the division and they hired me to go down and close it and get another belt in the process,” Dillashaw said on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show on ESPN yesterday [H/T MMA Fighting].
“It’s a win-win for me. They’re paying me a f*ck-load of money to move down and kill the 125-pound division and collect a second belt. So, it’s game time.
“It seems like I’m gonna take it over, man,” Dillashaw added. “I mean, if I’m the champ in both weight classes, why even have it? All the attention is at 135 anyway so at the end of the day, make the guys that they believe should stick around, come up and challenge for the belt.”
The fight between Henry Cejudo and T.J. Dillashaw for the former’s UFC flyweight title is scheduled for UFC 233, on January 26th in Anaheim, California.
