THE UFC HAVE announced that the long-awaited meeting of TJ Dillashaw and bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt will take place at UFC 217.
The pay-per-view event will be hosted by Madison Square Garden in New York on Saturday, 4 November — the UFC’s second visit to the famous Manhattan venue.
Last November, the organisation’s debut at MSG was headlined by Conor McGregor’s second-round stoppage of defending lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez.
The grudge match between Garbrandt and Dillashaw, who were once team-mates at Team Alpha Male, was originally due to happen earlier this summer.
However, their scheduled clash at UFC 213 in Las Vegas on 8 July was postponed after a back injury ruled Garbrandt out of his inaugural title defence.
Garbrandt dethroned Dominick Cruz with a stunning performance over five rounds last December. After losing the bantamweight belt to Cruz in January 2016, Dillashaw rebounded by defeating Raphael Assuncao and John Lineker.
UFC 217 is set to be headlined by Michael Bisping’s middleweight title defence against former welterweight title-holder Georges St-Pierre, who’ll be ending a four-year absence from the octagon.
Elsewhere, the UFC have also confirmed that Tony Ferguson will face Kevin Lee for an interim lightweight title at UFC 216 in Las Vegas on 7 October.
In Shanghai on 25 November, former champion Anderson Silva will headline UFC Fight Night 122 in a middleweight bout against Kelvin Gastelum.
