Former UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw’s last two losses in the Octagon have both been closely contested, spilt decisions that he felt should have gone his way.  At UFC 200 he’ll have the rare opportunity to take a big step towards setting them both right when he faces Raphael Assuncao on the preliminary card.

The UFC 200 prelims can be seen LIVE on TSN3 and TSN5 Saturday at 8pm et/5pm pt.

Before agreeing to face the number three ranked Bantamweight contender, Dillashaw, who is ranked number one on the contender list, thought he was headed for an immediate rematch with Dominick Cruz, the man that took his title belt in January, in a controversial split decision that he felt he had captured.

“I went and met with the heads of the UFC and pleaded my case a couple weeks after the fight, telling them that I wanted that rematch, I felt that I won that fight and they thought I won that fight and it made me real confident that I was getting that rematch,” Dillashaw told TSN.ca. “I found out two weeks later they were giving the fight to Uriah (Faber) and that didn’t really make sense to me, I didn’t think that he deserved a title shot.”

Instead he will face Assuncao, a man he lost a split decision to in October of 2013, two fights before he defeated Renan Barao to capture the bantamweight championship.  If a shot at the title wasn’t in the cards for the 30-year-old, he considers this the next best thing.

“If I wasn’t going to get the title fight, that’s who I wanted to fight next, I wanted to fight Assuncao,” said Dillashaw.  “Not only because I had the split decision against him in Brazil that I thought I won the fight and I wanted to get that fight back, but he’s ranked number (three) and I’m ranked number one, I win this fight, I get my title shot.  I get my title back, I get back what I feel is still rightfully mine.”

While Dillashaw was finding success, climbing the bantamweight title ladder and eventually capturing the title, Assuncao has been battling injuries trying to get back into the cage.

After defeating Dillashaw, the 33-year-old Brazilian earned unanimous decision wins over Pedro Munhoz and Bryan Caraway in 2014, but hasn’t been in the Octagon since due to a broken ankle that forced him out of action for over 10 weeks and then subsequently out of a fight with Uriah Faber in 2015.

While rust might be a factor for his opponent, Dillashaw is not planning to count on that from Assuncao.

“That’s a long time to be out and be inactive, not being in there,” said Dillashaw. “But I have to expect the best Raphael Assuncao.  I can’t look and expect rust, because it might not happen.   He might be able to be just fine, but I think it will be tough to come off that kind of a layoff.”

“He’s one of those guys that likes to sit back and turn it into a boring fight, he likes to sit back and really not do much and try to counter people and everything is really slow and methodical so I think my pressure, my cardio, my all-around game and how active I am is going to mess with him and I’m going to put it on him and finish him.”

While their first meeting was three years ago, Dillashaw still feels that there is a lot he can gain from looking back at that close loss, even if he’s come a long way since that Wednesday night in Brazil.

“You can definitely take some things from it, learn things from all of my fights and learn the thing he does well and things he doesn’t do well,” said Dillashaw. “I’ve grown so much as a fighter since then and I don’t really think he has and I think that’s going to be the biggest difference, I think we’re going to see the evolution I’ve made as a martial artist and I’m going to be very dominant in this fight.”

If Dillashaw gets his arm raised in this fight, part of the credit will come north of the border to Montreal where he spent some time working at Tristar Gym.  He considers it a positive experience that he hopes to repeat for subsequent camps.

“Went up to Tristar for a while, worked with Firas (Zahabi) and (Georges) St-Pierre, there are a lot of guys in my weight class up there so it was nice to get to work with them,“  said Dillashaw.

“Really welcoming place, awesome atmosphere, Firas is a really smart guy.  I learned a lot while I was up there, I got to work with Georges a little bit, Raymond Daniels was up there a little bit because he was working with Rory for his last fight with Wonderboy, so I got to be around a bunch of smart minds and some good technicians and add a few new kinks to my game.”

If everything goes according to plan, after the fight Dillashaw will be ready to complete the next step of his journey back to the title, name checking the champ.

“100%, I’ve already been calling him out even before I had this fight lined up, because I feel like I deserve (the title shot).”