Aljamain Sterling And TJ Dillashaw Booked For UFC 280
According to Kevin Iole, Aljamain Sterling will defend his bantamweight title against TJ Dillashaw at UFC 280 on October 22 in Abu Dhabi. The bout will serve as the co-main event to a lightweight title fight between Charles Oliveira and Islam Makhachev.
This news comes after the UFC announced Nate Diaz and Khamzat Chimaev would headline UFC 279. Sterling and Dillashaw were rumored to be headlining UFC 279, but it was clear that would not come to fruition after Diaz versus Chimaev was announced. Instead, the two will compete at UFC 280.
Sterling has an MMA record of 21-3 with a 13-3 record in the UFC. He earned the bantamweight title at UFC 259 in 2021, but it came with controversy. He won the belt via disqualification after Petr Yan landed an illegal knee. However, the pair fought again at UFC 273 and Sterling won via split decision, resulting in his first official title defense. In this fight with Dillashaw, he will attempt to earn his second defense.
Dillashaw will be no easy fight for Sterling. Dillashaw is a former bantamweight champion who has a record of 17-4. Technically, Dillashaw never lost his belt to a fighter. Instead, he was stripped in 2019 after a drug test found EPO in his system, resulting in a two-year suspension. Once this suspension ended, he returned against Cory Sandhagen and won via split decision. After the bout, it was evident that Dillashaw deserved the next title shot.
With the addition of Sterling and Dillashaw, UFC 280 is up to three bouts. The others are the aforementioned lightweight title bout between Oliveira and Makhachev and a welterweight bout between Belal Muhammed and Sean Brady. UFC 280 is months away, but as of right now, that card already seems to be a good one.
