UFC on FOX 19's John Dodson calling out entire division in return to bantamweight

For his next trick, “The Magician” will move up to bantamweight for the first time in more than four years. But for his first assignment, he wasn’t able to pull the rabbit out of his hat like he was hoping to.

Two-time flyweight title challenger John Dodson (17-7 MMA, 6-2 UFC) is returning to 135 pounds, where he won Season 14 of “The Ultimate Fighter,” and he’ll face Manny Gamburyan (15-8 MMA, 6-6 UFC) at UFC on FOX 19 in a little more than two weeks.

UFC on FOX 19 takes place April 16 at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Fla. The main card airs on FOX following prelims on FOX and UFC Fight Pass.

And while he considers Gamburyan – who has fought as heavy as welterweight and spent much of his career at lightweight – to be a worthy opponent, it’s not the level at which he was calling fighters out for his move back to 135 pounds.

The name he wanted the most? Unbeaten Thomas Almeida (20-0 MMA, 4-0 UFC), who will headline UFC Fight Night 88 against fellow perfect bantamweight Cody Garbrandt (8-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC) in May in Las Vegas.

“I’ve been calling out so many people, and everyone kept saying no,” Dodson recently told MMAjunkie. “It was very frustrating, so I’m glad someone was willing to say yes. Manny’s going to be a great test for me. He’s very strong, he’s very durable, and knowing he’s going to have that size advantage is going to be a little bit interesting for me.”

But again, Gamburyan at 6-6 over two stints in the UFC, is no Almeida, who has four bonuses in his four UFC fights.

“Of course I thought it was going to be the Almeida fight,” Dodson said. “Everybody was sitting here hyping this guy up, that he was on this unbeatable train and nobody was going to sit there and be able to call him out and no one would dare do it. I was like, ‘I’m going up to ’35. Let’s try it. Let’s test the waters out and go with the best dude in the division, and I can probably hunt for a title pretty soon.'”

But it wasn’t meant to be, despite, Dodson is quick to remind folks, the fact he has a knockout win over former bantamweight champ T.J. Dillashaw on his resume in the TUF 14 Finale.

Regardless, Dodson seems to believe bantamweight will be his new home, given the fact the 31-year-old can’t cut weight as easily as he used to. Not having to get all thew ay down to 125 pounds has “The Magician” feeling good, though. And after he fights Gamburyan, he plans on rocketing up the rankings the way he did at flyweight.

“Top 10, top five, I don’t care who it is: I’m here, mother(expletive).”

For more from Dodson on his return to the bantamweight division, a potential fight with Almeida, his second loss to Demetrious Johnson and more, check out the video above.

For more on UFC on FOX 19, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.