When Jon Dodson beats Demetrious Johnson, he'll offer T.J. Dillashaw a rematch for second belt

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – UFC flyweight contender John Dodson owns a first-round knockout win over current bantamweight champ T.J. Dillashaw. But if the new title holder wants a shot at revenge, Dodson says he’d be happy to beat him again and earn a second UFC title.

“I know how much it sucks to lose to somebody, so if he ever wants to run that back, we could,” Dodson told MMAjunkie.

Dodson, of course, was the bantamweight winner of “The Ultimate Fighter 14,” earning an opening-round TKO over Dillashaw in the season’s live finale. He promptly moved down to flyweight, where he’s currently considered one of the division’s top contenders.

Meanwhile, Dillashaw stayed the course at 135 pounds and in May scored a shocking victory over then-champ Renan Barao to claim the belt. Dodson said he enjoyed watching the performance and wants to take nothing away from Dillashaw’s effort.

“T.J. made our whole season look amazing,” Dodson said. “He walked out there and said, ‘Hey, I came from ‘The Ultimate Fighter 14,’ and everybody on that season is doing phenomenal, and he’s doing the best right now.”

On Saturday, Dodson (15-6 MMA, 4-1 UFC) meets John Moraga (14-2 MMA, 3-1 UFC) on the main card of UFC Fight Night 42, which takes place at Tingley Coliseum in Albuquerque, N.M.

The timing of the bout is intriguing, as current UFC flyweight champ Demetrious Johnson is in action just seven days later at UFC 173 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. In the UFC, timing often has much to do with who is given title shots, and an impressive win for Dodson could very well earn him a shot at the winner of Johnson vs. Ali Bagautinov.

Dodson isn’t looking past the task at hand, but he does see the potential – if, of course, the champion emerges healthy.

“It lines up really well, but we’ve got to make sure that somebody else has to stay healthy all the time,” Dodson said. “We’ve already seen Demetrious Johnson always pulling out of fights because of the fact that he’s either had a shoulder, a back, a leg – he’s always had injuries coming in and out of all these things. I know I’ll be fine, and if he’s not ready to go, well I’m going to hit that Donald Cerrone plan and tell Dana White, ‘Yo, let me fight anybody.’”

But in Dodson’s perfect world, it’s a win over Moraga, then a flyweight title shot that sees “The Magician” bring home the belt. And then, well, it might just be time to make a little history.

“When I beat Demetrious Johnson, I will be sitting there wanting to know if T.J. Dillashaw wants to go at it and have that rematch with me,” Dodson said.

For the latest on UFC Fight Night 42, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.