TJ Dillashaw Believes Cody Garbrandt Doesn’t Deserve Rematch

UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw doesn’t understand why he has to fight Cody Garbrandt once again.

If you recall, their first fight went down at the UFC 217 pay-per-view event at Madison Square Garden in New York City in November where Dillashaw finished Garbrandt to win back the bantamweight title.

Now, the promotion has booked the rematch between these two fighters for the upcoming UFC 227 event.

Dillashaw recently went on record by telling MMA Fighting that he doesn’t believe the former UFC champion deserves a rematch for the title. However, he did explain his theory on why this fight is happening right away.

“I don’t think in any form does Cody deserve the rematch,” Dillashaw said on a recent episode of The MMA Hour. “But I’m happy to do it. The UFC obviously wants it. So I mean, if they want it, they’re going to pump this up. For whatever reason they want to put Cody in there. I think it’s a great fight for me. He doesn’t deserve it whatsoever on the sport side of it. But I’m a businessman and I’m going to go out there and put him away.”

“There’s still some built-up animosity, you know?” Dillashaw said. “It’s not going to just go away all of a sudden. You know he should be, he’s pushing for this title fight, he wants this, he wants that, but, in all reality, I mean, I don’t think he realizes how much is on the line. What’s he going to do after I knock him out two times in a row?”

“Because no, he doesn’t deserve it. It’s a completely different situation this time. He can’t be all big, bad, and tough. He just got knocked out. This is a little bit different. Yeah. I don’t think it is going to be as bad as it was last time. I don’t feel the team is going to be attacking me as much as well. You know? They looked really bad.”

“Immediate rematches or rematches in general, I don’t know if they ever really do change,” Dillashaw said. “I see myself winning this fight even easier. Just like with the Barao situation, I went out there and won the second time even easier.”

The UFC 227 pay-per-view event is set to take place on August 4, 2018, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.

The main card will air on pay-per-view at 10 p.m. ET while the preliminary card will air on FOX Sports 1 at 8 p.m. ET and the promotion’s streaming service, UFC Fight Pass.