T.J. Dillashaw: A Champion Without a Challenger

T.J. Dillashaw is a champion in a very precarious position. The 135-pound division has long awaited a star who can push the division to mainstream fans, and Dillashaw seems to be that type of competitor. Unfortunately, the UFC finds itself at a point where very few men are viable contenders for his strap.

Since winning the title at UFC 173 last May, Dillashaw has sat atop a division that has been plagued by injuries to the men who would be inserted as challengers. Dominick Cruz and Raphael Assuncao were two men tapped as potential contenders, but both are on the shelf at this time.

Mike Fridley of Sherdog reported the two injuries on December 22.

Cruz used his Facebook page to reveal that he had been hit with his third ACL injury. This time the injury occurred in his right knee; the previous injuries that kept him out of action for nearly three years were in his left knee.

Before this sad moment, Cruz had returned to the Octagon with a crushing defeat of Takeya Mizugaki in 61 seconds. After that win in September, UFC President Dana White went on record to say that Cruz will be the next man to face Dillashaw.

“Nobody does that to Mizugaki, nobody,” White said in a Sherdog piece by C.J. Tuttle. “He didn’t lose his belt fighting. He is the unluckiest man on earth. So yeah, he’s the guy.”

At the time that left Assuncao out of the picture, but he was removed indefinitely when he announced a serious injury hours after Cruz's post. Assuncao took to his Twitter account to reveal that his ankle was broken during training.

Assuncao is currently ranked No. 4 by the UFC, and his October 2013 win over Dillashaw gave him the leverage to call for a title shot before being sidelined.

With both of these men healing from injuries, Dillashaw is left without any interesting contenders at this time. While Renan Barao has a stoppage win over Mitch Gagnon, the organization does not seem ready to put him back in the cage to rematch for the title.

There is another name that has come up in conversations as of late: John Dodson. Dodson is the only other man to defeat the Team Alpha Male standout as he did so to win season 14 of The Ultimate Fighter in 2011. Dodson has addressed this situation as he prepares to return from a knee injury of his own and hopes to rematch current UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson.

“I think I'm the bogeyman at 125 and 135,” said Dodson, as reported by Shaun Al-Shatti of MMA Fighting. “Even that champion doesn't want to fight me. I have a whole team afraid of me.”

Unfortunately, Dodson may not return until some point in June due to the surgery to repair his knee injury, according to Adam Guillen Jr. of MMA Mania. That puts a third potential challenger on the shelf and out of the bantamweight title picture.

Perhaps the UFC can turn to either Urijah Faber or Barao to give Dillashaw a viable opponent early in 2015. Both individuals come with storylines that could captivate MMA fans when it comes to these fights. 

Faber is an established MMA star, but winning a UFC title has still eluded him. He failed against Barao twice and once against Cruz.

The major hurdle in creating a fight between Faber and Dillashaw is the fact that the two men have trained together for years. However, White is under the impression that the two men would fight each other over the belt. 

"That's possible," White said on UFC Tonight, as reported by MMA Fighting. "Those guys have made it very clear that they will fight each other. We'll see what happens." 

Dillashaw vs. Faber could be the bantamweight fight that gives the division the exposure that the organization would like to see for its champion. 

Barao was in control of the 135-pound group before he ran into Dillashaw in 2014. Not only was he defeated, but he was dominated for much of the fight. When coupled with the weight-cut issues that forced him to pull out of UFC 177, he may be highly ranked but has not been built up in a fashion to present him as a top contender at this time. 

The UFC needs to keep its champions healthy and active. T.J. Dillashaw is the type of individual a division can be built around. Sadly, the organization lacks the contenders to build up its bantamweight title holder.