In somewhat of a surprise, Urijah Faber believes TJ Dillashaw should challenge for the bantamweight title next.
Following Aljamain Sterling’s split decision win over Petr Yan at UFC 273 last month, the attention turned to who should challenge for the bantamweight title next.
While Sterling called out Dillashaw who was in attendance, he also mention Jose Aldo as a potential challenger to face next. Aldo is certainly all in and has called for Sterling to sign a contract.
Let the rest of the boys fighting each other and exchanging insults on the internet. In my opinion it does not make any sense to let a guy who got suspended for 2 years for cheating to come back and fight for the belt after winning a split decision in a fight I think he lost.
— Jose Aldo Junior (@josealdojunior) April 28, 2022
However, there has been no concrete movement yet, and that could be because Dillashaw is in with a shot at regaining his 135-pound crown.
Urijah Faber: Aljamain Sterling vs. TJ Dillashaw Is The Fight To Make
As far as Faber is concerned, he believes Sterling vs. Dillashaw is the fight to make, especially given where things stand in the division.
“Man, that’s a great question,” Faber told MMA Fighting. “Obviously, I would love to see [Dillashaw] vs. Aldo, but I would also like to see Aldo vs. ‘Aljo.’ I don’t think that T.J. needs to show that he’s not there yet, Cory Sandhagen could very easily be the champ, or a title contender himself. He’s an amazing fighter, they had a close fight and some people thought Sandhagen won.
“Right now, for relevancy, I think T.J. vs. ‘Aljo’ is the fight to make, and then Aldo gets the winner of that. I think a T.J. vs. Aldo fight would be huge as well, but you don’t have the hunk of metal on the line so it’s dulled down a little bit, and then Aldo lost to Petr Yan, so I think the story is still a T.J. vs. ‘Aljo’ fight, or an Aldo-’Aljo’ fight because Aldo is somebody that has taken that loss from Yan and it really lit a fire and he’s looked better than he ever has, so I’d like to see that, too.”
Those comments may come as a surprise given the bad blood between Faber and Dillashaw.
As most in the combat sports world know by now, the pair don’t see eye-to-eye after Dillashaw left Team Alpha Male to join striking coach Duane Ludwig.
But despite all that, Faber is seemingly remaining unbiased. While he believes Aldo is also deserving in his own right, if he had to choose one person to face Sterling next, who would it be?
“I would say T.J. [gets the shot],” Faber added.
Perhaps we’ll get some movement on this regard in the next few weeks.
