T.J. Dillashaw didn’t win his UFC title in linear fashion – he was an injury replacement. But he never feels any less of a champion.

“Not at all,” the UFC bantamweight kingpin told MMAjunkie Radio. “If (Dominick) Cruz isn’t able to get back in the cage and defend his belt, why should he be the champ?”

This month, the UFC will crown another titleholder in the light-heavyweight division. One contender, Anthony Johnson, earned his title shot with a series of impressive performances. The other, Daniel Cormier, got it because Jon Jones’ troubles outside the cage forced the promotion to strip him of the belt.

Dillashaw, however, doesn’t think any less of the winner of that bout. The new champion is just as legitimate if the situation with Jones hadn’t happened, he said.

“If Jon Jones can’t figure out his life to where he can live clean and be a professional, then he doesn’t deserve to be the champ, either,” said Dillashaw (11-2 MMA, 7-2 UFC), who rematches Renan Barao (33-2 MMA, 8-1 UFC) in the headliner of July’s UFC on FOX 16 event. “The UFC did the right thing, and whoever wins that fight is going to be a great champion.”

Right now, Dillashaw is working to put behind him his past as a fill-in, not to mention staying healthy enough to make sure the UFC can never take away his belt.

In March, the bantamweight champ was at wrestling practice when he executed a switch on his longtime training partner, two-time flyweight title challenger Joseph Benavidez. Dillashaw knew he was injured, but he didn’t know the extent of it.

“I figured I had separated cartilage, so I kept practicing for a week, and I even sparred and everything,” Dillashaw said. “Come the weekend, I was driving out to Colorado, and on the long drive out there, I knew something was wrong (with my rib). Every time I coughed or sneezed, it hurt pretty bad. I knew I needed to get it checked out, and I was surprised that I broke it.”

Dillashaw was forced out of this past month’s UFC 186 event and will now meets Barao a second time on July 25 at Chicago’s United Center. (The event’s main card, including the bantamweight headliner, airs live on FOX.) It’s the third time the two have been scheduled to fight after an immediate rematch this past August was scuttled when Barao suffered complications from a weight cut.

It’s been one year since Dillashaw rose to the occasion when he stepped in for Raphael Assuncao to fight Barao and delivered a career-defining performance, knocking down the Brazilian down before finishing him in the fifth and final frame.

With the third proposed bout approaching, Dillashaw is weary of preparing for the same guy so many time, but he knows that it’s for a purpose.

“It gets a little irritating preparing for the same guy, but it does make it easier,” he said. “I do know who I’m fighting, and I expect what he’s going to bring. Obviously, he’ll try to bring a little different of a game plan, but when it comes down to it, he’s going to go back to the basics that got him to where he’s at.

“It is frustrating, but it does make life a little easier, game-planning for an opponent and watching tape. It’s a bag of mixed emotions. I’m just ready to beat him and get him behind me and start looking for the next names and continue to build my legacy. Once I beat him again, it’s going to be a great feeling.”

For more on UFC on FOX 16, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.

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