EXCLUSIVE | TJ Dillashaw talks possible grudge match with un-retired Urijah Faber

Over the last year, bantamweight stars TJ Dillashaw and Cody Garbrandt have shared one of the most heated and public rivalries in MMA. The pair’s rivalry stems from Dillashaw’s departure from Team Alpha Male, the Sacramento gym where he began his fighting career, and the bitterness his former Team Alpha Male stablemates have felt ever since departure.

Last weekend, in the co-main event of the stacked UFC 217, Dillashaw and Garbrandt finally stepped into the cage to settle their score. Despite a real scare in the closing seconds of the first round, Dillashaw rallied back in the second, removing his opponent’s batteries with a savage salvo of strikes, and scoring a big win over his nemeses at Team Alpha Male.

Having drubbed Garbrandt and reclaimed the UFC bantamweight title, TJ Dillashaw now has his sight set on a flyweight showdown with dominant divisional kingpin Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson. That said, there appears to be another interesting option on Dillashaw’s menu: a fight with Team Alpha Male founder Urijah Faber, who retired from competition late last year.

In the wake of Dillashaw’s UFC 217 title win, Faber hinted that he’d be willing to end his retirement to battle his former protege. In the opinion of Dillashaw, however, this fight would be nothing more than an easy payday.

“That’s hilarious man,”Dillashaw said on the latest episode of BJ Penn Radio. “It sounds like the easiest payday ever. I mean it’s just comical. I mean come out of retirement, get a title shot off of what, losing to Jimmy Rivera and looking like crap in his fights? I mean it’s hilarious. But like I said, it’d be an easy payday, so I guess I shouldn’t be laughing at it. I should be pumping him up.”

Would you be interested in a bantamweight title fight between the champ TJ Dillashaw and his former mentor Urijah Faber? Join the conversation in the comments section!

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 9/11/2017.