Garbrandt – Dillashaw made official for UFC 217
With every UFC champion hopeful of landing on the promotion’s upcoming return to Madison Square Garden, UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt’s back injury earlier this year has become a blessing in disguise.
Announced on ‘UFC Tonight’ on Wednesday, Cody Garbrandt will defend his 135lbs crown for the first time at UFC 217 against bitter rival and former champion T.J Dillashaw.
Garbrandt and Dillashaw had been scheduled to headline UFC 213 earlier this year but a back injury suffered by the champion forced the bout to be postponed and the bantamweight title fight will now be pencilled in as the co-main event to a middleweight title fight between Michael Bisping and Georges St-Pierre.
Dillashaw and Garbrandt’s rivalry stems from Dillashaw’s decision to leave Team Alpha Male, the gym where they were once teammates, in order to join their former striking coaches new gym.
Garbrandt (11-0) successfully claimed the bantamweight championship at UFC 207 last December by defeating Dominick Cruz via unanimous decision in one of the performances of the year. ‘No Love’ is renowned for his big punching power and has finished all but two of his professional bouts via stoppage.
Dillashaw (14-3) is currently on a two-fight win streak since losing the title to Dominick Cruz and is regarded as one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in MMA.
UFC 217’s lineup is currently scheduled to feature:
- Michael Bisping vs. Georges St-Pierre – middleweight title fight
- Cody Garbrandt vs. T.J. Dillashaw – bantamweight title fight
- Paulo Borrachinha vs. Johny Hendricks
- Curtis Blaydes vs. Aleksei Oleinik
- Corey Anderson vs. Patrick Cummins
- Gadzhimurad Antigulov vs. Ion Cutelaba
- Ricardo Ramos vs. Aiemann Zahabi