Should the UFC 213 co-main event of Cody Garbrandt-TJ Dillashaw on July 8 for the bantamweight championship fall apart, as many expect due to Garbrandt's back injury, the UFC has a backup plan in place for Dillashaw. 

With Garbrandt currently undergoing treatment in Germany to heal his back, Dillashaw told ESPN on Sunday he is "99 percent sure" Garbrandt (11-0) won't be fit to defend his title. He also shared that UFC president Dana White has approved his desire to move down to 125 pounds and challenge 10-time defending flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson (26-2-1) in August. 

"I was told that if Cody is out of the fight, which I am 99 percent sure he is, I will be fighting [Johnson] in August," Dillashaw said. "I texted Dana White three days ago to ask what the deal was. He told me Cody had one more day of injections [in Germany] and then we'd find out what was going on.

"Dana was really excited about that. I don't know if [Johnson] wants to turn down the fight or what. I don't really know how that works. I've never turned down a fight from the UFC before. I don't know if you're really allowed to -- but Dana was very excited about it."

Dillashaw, 31, a former UFC bantamweight champion who lost his title by split decision to Dominick Cruz last year, said he has linked up with nutritionist Sam Calavitta to calculate a plan to get him down to 125 pounds. 

"The way I'm going to do it is switch up the way I work out," Dillashaw said. "I'm still going to eat well, but my diet will be very different. It will almost be an Ironman [triathlon] approach, lot of aerobic workouts. It's going to be a hell of a change for me. I'm not a big 135-pounder but I'm lean year-round.

"Right now, I'm at like nine-percent body fat. I'm willing to cut myself to a little under six percent. We've got it all calculated out and it's going to be a lot of work, but if the juice is worth the squeeze, you do it."

A Johnson-Dillashaw fight would be interesting for two major reasons: Dillashaw would attempt to become just the fourth UFC fighter to win titles in multiple divisions. But more importantly, Johnson is out of big names to face after completely cleaning out the flyweight division, just one consecutive title defense away from breaking Anderson Silva's UFC record. 

While that's good news for a proposed card in August, it does nothing to save UFC 213 in July. 

For a card that originally appeared to be stacked, a main event was never announced. Now, the potential loss of Garbrandt-Dillashaw would leave a rematch between Amanda Nunes and Valentina Shevchenko for the women's bantamweight title as the most prominent fight. For a card that falls during International Fight Week in Las Vegas and typically provides a "Super Bowl of MMA" feel, Nunes-Shevchenko II simply won't cut it as a crossover main event.