Aljamain Sterling Vs. T.J. Dillashaw Moved To UFC 280

Aljamain Sterling and T.J. Dillashaw will fight for the undisputed bantamweight title at UFC 280. This will co-headline the event with the vacant lightweight championship bout between Charles Oliveira and Islam Makhachev. UFC 280 will take place October 22, at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi.

This fight was originally meant to happen at UFC 279 before being rescheduled. It now appears that the UFC is choosing nontitle fight between Khamzat Chimaev and Nate Diaz to headline UFC 279.

This will be Sterling’s second scheduled title defense. Sterling won the title from Petr Yan via a controversial disqualification victory at UFC 259. The champ then defeated Yan by split decision in a rematch at UFC 273.

Dillashaw has successfully defended the UFC bantamweight title three times over the course of two separate reigns. The latter of these came to end when he was forced to relinquish the title in January 2019 after testing positive for EPO (recombinant human erythropoietin).

Dillashaw receiving a two-year suspension from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. However, he did make a successful comeback when He earned a split nod over Cory Sandhagen at UFC Vegas 32 in July 2021.