The UFC is heading to Brooklyn for its very first card 2019 and its first card on ESPN after a seven-year deal with Fox Sports. The event is headlined by a champion vs champion battle as bantamweight champion T.J. Dillashaw is dropping down to the flyweight division to take on Henry”The Messenger” Cejudo. Dillashaw is seeking to become the seventh fighter to acquire belts in two different weight classes and is now a -230 favorite with Cejudo coming back in +180.
Shark Bites
T.J. Dillashaw is averaging 5.38 significant strikes every second.
Gold was won by henry Cejudo at the 2008 Olympic Games. Five of T.J. Dillashaw’s last seven wins have come via knockout.
Odds Analysis
That is Cejudo’s second straight fight as an underdog after he shut as a large +350 dog against Demetrious”Mighty Mouse” Johnson, arguably the pound-for-pound best at the time. The former Olympian outwrestled DJ en route to a split-decision success to become the flyweight champion.
But because he’s the bigger man dropping down in weight it makes sense to be favored. Here is the fifth time ever that the UFC has had two sitting champions stand toe-to-toe and the fighter who has made the weight class move is 3-1 in the previous four fights, with B.J. Penn’s reduction to GSP in 2009 being the sole defeat. That being said, Dillashaw is the first to fall down in weight to challenge for a second belt, as B.J. Penn, Conor McGregor, Daniel Cormier and Amanda Nunes all moved up in weight as they looked to fasten two straps at precisely the same time.
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