On Wednesday afternoon, UFC President Dana White revealed reigning UFC bantamweight champion T.J. Dillashaw will put his belt on the line against former champion Dominick Cruz in main event of UFC Fight Night 81 in Boston.

Dillashaw (12-2) will be looking to pick up his third straight title defense, and fourth straight win overall. In his most recent contest, the Team Alpha Male scored with a violent fourth round TKO over former champion Renan Barão in July. Dillashaw previously defeated Barão in their initial meeting UFC 173, walking away his belt in the process. To date Dillashaw, has not tasted defeated since his controversial split decision loss to Raphael Assunção in 2013.

Cruz (20-1), also the final WEC champion, was last seen being pulled off a helpless Takeya Mizugaki a little over a minute into their UFC 178 contest in September 2014. This marked Cruz’s first appearance inside the Octagon since UFC on Versus 6 in 2011.

Since that night, where we witnessed Cruz defend his belt against the now flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson, the Alliance MMA product has suffered a series of debilitating injuries, including a pair ACL tears to both knees, which has kept him out of competition. He was eventually stripped of his belt after tearing his groin ahead of UFC 169 title fight with Barão.

UFC Fight Night 81 is currently set to take place Jan. 17 in Boston. A lightweight contest between former UFC champion Anthony Pettis and former Bellator champion Eddie Alvarez has been tied to the event.

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José began his career as a mixed martial arts journalist while still enrolled at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications at Arizona State University. Since graduating in May 2013, he has attended dozens of high profile UFC fight cards as a credentialed member of the media, providing live cage side coverage through his articles and videos. His work has appeared on UFC.com, ArizonaSports.com and AZCentral. He is also currently one of the main contributors on Power MMA Show at Arizona Sports 98.7 FM, one of the first all MMA radio shows on a major radio station.