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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

T.J. Dillashaw successfully defends UFC bantamweight title

 (Associated Press)

T.J. Dillashaw successfully defended his bantamweight title with a fifth-round TKO over late fill-in Joe Soto at UFC 177 on Saturday night in Sacramento, California. Dillashaw (12-2) was never hurt in his first title defense and playfully toyed with the crowd, sticking out his tongue and raising his hands in the air at one point during the fifth round. Dillashaw later landed a hard kick to the side of Soto’s head and followed with an equally hard left hand that dropped the challenger, then pounced on Soto and landed several more punches before the fight was stopped at the 2:20 mark. Dillashaw was originally slated to fight Renan Barao, the man he upset to win the title from in May at UFC 173. But Barao was a late scratch after he fell and hit his head on Friday. – AP