TJ Dillashaw pulling out of Cory Sandhagen fight could open door for female main event on 8 May

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3 years ago

Cody No Love Garbrandt (red gloves) vs. TJ Dillashaw (blue gloves) during UFC 217 at Madison Square Garden (Imago)

TJ Dillashaw might have to wait for his return after pulling out his fight against Cory Sandhagen due to a cut above his eye.

Dillashaw was eligible to compete again on January 19, 2021. The former bantamweight champion was banned for a staggering 2 years after testing positive for recombinant human erythropoietin prior to his championship bout (flyweight) against Henry Cejudo on January 19, 2019.

Dillashaw was initially suspended for a year by the NYSAC (New York State Athletic Commission), he then received an additional suspension from the USADA which extended the ban to two years.

Cory Sandhagen will be in action at UFC 250. (UFC)

After serving two years, he was all set to take on the high-flying Cory Sandhagen on the 8th of May, this year.

But now it looks like the fight will have to be rescheduled as Dillashaw revealed via. Instagram that he has pulled out from his fight due to a cut received above his eye from a headbutt while drilling.

The latest development now is that, women’s strawweight bout between Michelle Waterson and Marina Rodriguez is set to be the main event on the 8th of May. The news was first broken by Ariel Helwani of ESPN MMA.

Helwani tweeted:

“TJ Dillashaw v Cory Sandhagen is off. I’m told Michelle Waterson x Marina Rodriguez is the frontrunner to replace it as the new 5/8 main.”

Cory Sandhagen believes TJ Dillashaw would return as a much better version of himself

Despite the fight not going ahead, Dillashaw has promised a rescheduling. And hence, his fight with Sandhagen will take place surely sometime this year.

A week before Sandhagen had claimed that Dillashaw will be returning as a much better version of himself.

During a recent interview with MMA Junkie, Sandhagen explained that he wouldn’t be buying the narrative – ‘TJ Dillashaw would be a mere shadow of his former self’. Despite acknowledging his shoulder injuries, Sandhagen still felt that TJ would return much stronger.

Sandhagen, on the other hand, is coming off a massive KO win over Frankie Edgar. He is on a two-fight win streak. Sandhagen just has one loss in the UFC; against Aljamain Sterling at UFC 250.