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Dillashaw wants immediate title shot after return from suspension

Josh Hedges / UFC / Getty

Former UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw wants an immediate title shot when he returns from his two-year USADA suspension in 2021.

"I want that title fight right away," Dillashaw told ESPN's Brett Okamoto. "You've got a guy in Petr Yan who beat someone for the belt that is 0-2 in the division. Jose Aldo has two losses (at 135 pounds); you beat him for the title and you're calling yourself a champion?

"That belt has changed hands every fight. No one there has dominated. That's my belt, and I want to come back to a title fight."

Dillashaw failed a drug test for recombinant human erythropoietin (EPO) after a January 2019 loss to then-flyweight champion Henry Cejudo. The 34-year-old was suspended for two years and forfeited the bantamweight title. Dillashaw later admitted he knowingly used the banned substance.

In Dillashaw's absence, Cejudo won the vacant 135-pound title, then relinquished it after announcing his retirement earlier in 2020. Yan won the vacant belt in July and is expected to defend it for the first time against Aljamain Sterling in early 2021.

Dillashaw, who's eligible to return to the Octagon on Jan. 18, believes he'll once again reach the pinnacle of the sport.

"I'll be a three-time bantamweight champion," Dillashaw said. "That's a guarantee, and it's going to happen sooner than people think."

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