TJ Dillashaw thinks super-fight with “Mighty Mouse” should be new UFC 214 main event

For the last few weeks, former UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw has been operating under the assumption that he’ll be fighting reigning champ Cody Garbrandt at UFC 213 this July 8. Recently, however, news surfaced that Garbrandt is having some issues with his back, putting the pair’s UFC 213 fight in jeopardy.

While this is obviously unfortunate news for Dillashaw, the former champ was quick to come up with a backup plan, suggesting that he’d be willing to drop to 125 pounds to challenge dominant champ Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson for flyweight gold.

More recently still, Dillashaw has suggested that this fight would be a good fit for UFC 214 on July 29. In fact, he believes the fight should headline the card over the current main event, which will see rivals Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier battle for light heavyweight gold. UFC President Dana White has said, after all, that he doesn’t trust the two light heavyweights with main event responsibilities.

Dillashaw made his case on a recent episode of Submission Radio:

“I mean, I think he’d probably want some more time,” Dillashaw said of fighting Mighty Mouse at UFC 213. “I don’t think he’s been training either. I think shooting for that Jon Jones and Cormier card would be amazing. Dana already said he doesn’t want to make them guys a headliner, so why not put me and Demetrious in front of them? What bigger fight could you have in front of those two guys besides me and Demetrious? You know, it gives him a little bit more time to get prepared, gives me more time to change my body. Right now, I’m still in the process of putting strength and size on. Like I said, I’m not a big 135-pounder, so the beginning on my camps are always (focused on) getting bigger and putting that good strength on so that I can cut the weight later in camp. But you know, it’d be really hard to make it to July 8^th. But if I had a couple of extra weeks to start changing the way I’m training, changing the way I’m eating, it would be no problem at all. I’m a professional, I can make the weight [for a flyweight title fight].”

Who do you think wins a TJ Dillashaw vs. Mighty Mouse title fight?

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 5/17/2017.