Cory Sandhagen and TJ Dillashaw were set to meet 8th of May, earlier this year. However, Dillashaw got a nasty gash above his forehead which saw the fight being postponed to a further date.
With the postponed date being announced for a couple of weeks, the UFC have now confirmed that the fight has been rebooked for the 24th of July, after recent reports suggested the same.
This will be Dillashaw’s first fight in more than 2 years, after having last fought in January 2019. He was suspended for two years after testing positive for a banned substance. He was eligible to compete again on the 21st of January, this year.
Sandhagen, fought only recently, the high-flying bantamweight is coming off a highlight-reel knockout win against Frankie Edgar at UFC Fight Night: Overeem vs Volkov.
TJ Dillashaw vs Cory Sandhagen will be a number one bantamweight contender fight
Cory Sandhagen is currently ranked number 2 in the bantamweight rankings. Sandhagen was surging in the UFC until 2020, before he was slept by an Aljamain Sterling submission at UFC 250. He then recovered magnificently, notching up back-to-back victories against Marlon Moraes and Frankie Edgar respectively. His last win over Edgar was an insane flying knee quite similar to Jorge Masvidal’s against Ben Askren.
Dillashaw, on the other hand, hasn’t fought since his loss to Henry Cejudo in January 2019. Following a positive test of human erythropoietin, he was suspended for a whopping 2 years. The former 2-time bantamweight champion will be looking forward to marking his return with a bang.
The venue is expected to be UFC Apex, after President Dana White recently revealed that the venues after UFC 261 and UFC 262 would predominantly be in their Apex facility.
The winner of the fight will go on to challenge the winner of the rematch between Petr Yan and Aljamain Sterling, which is yet to be announced. Dillashaw will be channelling his former ‘beast’ self when he returns to the Octagon, whereas Sandhagen will be looking forward to keeping his winning streak going.