HENRY CEJUDO WILL make his first defence of the UFC flyweight title early next year.
The former Olympian, who was a freestyle wrestling gold medallist in 2008, will put the 125-pound belt on the line against reigning bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw.
The fight has been fixed for UFC 233, which will take place at the Honda Centre in Anaheim on Saturday, 26 January.
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The bout will offer Dillashaw the opportunity to join the list of fighters who have held belts in two divisions, as he moves down in weight to tackle his fellow Californian.
Randy Couture, BJ Penn, Conor McGregor and Georges St-Pierre were previously champions in two separate weight classes, while Daniel Cormier remains in possession of the gold at light-heavyweight and heavyweight.
Women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes will aim to become the first female fighter to achieve that feat on 29 December when she challenges Cris Cyborg for her featherweight strap at UFC 232.
A bout between Cejudo (13-2) and Dillashaw (16-3) has seemingly been in the works since early August, when the pair were both victorious in their respective title bouts at UFC 227. The clash was finally confirmed by the organisation overnight.
TJ Dillashaw's bantamweight belt won't be up for grabs at UFC 233. Jason Silva
Jason Silva
Cejudo caused a major upset with a split-decision win over Demetrious Johnson, who hadn’t tasted defeat in seven years. Dillashaw made a successful defence of his 135-pound title by defeating ex-champion and former team-mate Cody Garbrandt via first-round TKO.
While the card is only available on a pay-per-view basis to the US audience, fans in Ireland will be able to watch via Eleven Sports, whose broadcast deal with the UFC in this part of the world comes into effect in 2019.
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UFC confirm clash of two champions for first pay-per-view card of 2019
HENRY CEJUDO WILL make his first defence of the UFC flyweight title early next year.
The former Olympian, who was a freestyle wrestling gold medallist in 2008, will put the 125-pound belt on the line against reigning bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw.
The fight has been fixed for UFC 233, which will take place at the Honda Centre in Anaheim on Saturday, 26 January.
The bout will offer Dillashaw the opportunity to join the list of fighters who have held belts in two divisions, as he moves down in weight to tackle his fellow Californian.
Randy Couture, BJ Penn, Conor McGregor and Georges St-Pierre were previously champions in two separate weight classes, while Daniel Cormier remains in possession of the gold at light-heavyweight and heavyweight.
Women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes will aim to become the first female fighter to achieve that feat on 29 December when she challenges Cris Cyborg for her featherweight strap at UFC 232.
A bout between Cejudo (13-2) and Dillashaw (16-3) has seemingly been in the works since early August, when the pair were both victorious in their respective title bouts at UFC 227. The clash was finally confirmed by the organisation overnight.
Cejudo caused a major upset with a split-decision win over Demetrious Johnson, who hadn’t tasted defeat in seven years. Dillashaw made a successful defence of his 135-pound title by defeating ex-champion and former team-mate Cody Garbrandt via first-round TKO.
While the card is only available on a pay-per-view basis to the US audience, fans in Ireland will be able to watch via Eleven Sports, whose broadcast deal with the UFC in this part of the world comes into effect in 2019.
Subscribe to our new podcast, Heineken Rugby Weekly on The42, here:
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Given to fly Henry Cejudo MMA TJ Dillashaw UFC UFC 233