Garbrandt eyes Dillashaw trilogy bout: 'We all know what he was on'

Former UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt wants to avenge a pair of losses to his rival, fellow ex-champ TJ Dillashaw, sometime down the road.

Garbrandt returned to the Octagon at UFC 250 on Saturday night, finishing longtime contender Raphael Assuncao with a one-punch knockout in the second round. The win marked his first since 2016, snapping a three-fight skid.

After the fight, "No Love" said he plans to recapture the 135-pound title and is interested in fighting Petr Yan, who's expected to face Jose Aldo for the vacant belt in July. But once Dillashaw's USADA suspension ends in 2021, Garbrandt hopes to meet him for a third time.

"We're talking about TJ, who's still suspended. He's not even in there, but that's a fight I'd like to get back," Garbrandt said during the postfight press conference in Las Vegas, according to MMA Fighting's Alexander K. Lee. "We all know what he was on, we all knew what he was doing, it took so many times for him to skate by USADA, unfortunately. He's serving his sentence, he's gonna always have to live with that the rest of his life, he has a child that has eyes on him that knows that his dad was a cheater."

"I'm gonna be at the world championship, I'm gonna be at the top," Garbrandt continued. "So if he works his way back up there, open doors, let's get it."

Dillashaw tested positive for EPO after a flyweight title fight against Henry Cejudo in January 2019. The UFC's anti-doping partner suspended him for two years, and he lost the bantamweight title.

Dillashaw beat Garbrandt with a second-round knockout at UFC 217 in November 2017 to become a two-time champion. He defended the belt in an immediate rematch, knocking out Garbrandt in the first round at UFC 227 in August 2018.