T.J. Dillashaw could be back in the Octagon by July. | Dave Mandel/Sherdog.com
T.J. Dillashaw is looking to fight sometime this summer after a rib injury forced him to withdraw from a scheduled bantamweight title defense at UFC 186.
Dillashaw was set to rematch Renan Barao at the Bell Centre in Montreal on April 25, but that bout was scrapped when the champion suffered a fractured rib in training. As a result, a flyweight title tilt between Demetrious Johnson and Kyoji Horiguchi was promoted to the UFC 186 main event. The UFC is likely to rebook Dillashaw and Barao at a future event, but nothing has been made official by the Las Vegas-based promotion at this time.
Dillashaw upset Barao to capture the 135-pound strap at UFC 173, finishing his favored opponent with a head kick and follow-up punches at the 2:26 mark of round five. The bantamweights were initially set to rematch at UFC 177, but Barao pulled out at the last minute due to a bad weight cut.
Instead, Dillashaw successfully defended his title with a fifth-round stoppage of fill-in opponent Joe Soto. The 29-year-old Californian has not competed since that Aug. 30 triumph.