Getty Tj Dillashaw
Former UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw was recently challenged to a trilogy fight by his fierce rival and former teammate, Cody Garbrandt.
ESPN’s Brett Okamoto caught up with Dillashaw after his disastrous fight at UFC 280 on October 22. Dillashaw stepped inside the Octagon that night in Abu Dhabi, UAE with the mission to become the first-ever three-time 135-pound UFC champion. However, Dillashaw fought with an injured shoulder which severely compromised his ability to fend off champion Aljamain Sterling’s ground game.
After Dillashaw’s left shoulder dislocated in the first and second round, the “Funk Master” finished the ex-champ via TKO.
When speaking with Okamoto, Dillashaw said he chose to compete at UFC 280 with a bad shoulder because he had experience fighting and winning with two “blown-out shoulders” in the past.
Specifically, Dillashaw said his two KO/TKO wins over Garbrandt came while he was dealing with multiple shoulder injuries.
“I’ve fought like this before,” Dillashaw said (h/t MMA Fighting). “I knocked out Cody Garbrandt twice with two blown-out shoulders. My shoulders were both dislocating for that Garbrandt fight. Before that first Garbrandt fight, I tore my left shoulder on The Ultimate Fighter doing the coaches challenge. We were playing tetherball on the balance beam, and I fell off and tried to catch myself and hurt my shoulder. In that fight camp, I dislocated my shoulder a good 10-15 times. … It hurt and affected my grappling, but what was I going to do, not take the fight? I wanted to get my title back. Kind of the same situation I’m in now.
“Look, I believe I’m the best in the world, so I want to get my belt back and do these things before I go and get my body fixed. Because if you get your shoulder fixed, you’re out for a year and you’re never guaranteed to be back. … So this isn’t new. I’ve fought in this situation before. I needed surgery, but it was something I wasn’t willing to do yet. I’d think about that when I got my belt back.”
Garbrandt Responded to Dillashaw’s Comments, Called for a Third Fight With ‘This Cheating B*stard’
Garbrandt, who is also a former bantamweight champion, took to Twitter to respond to Dillashaw’s comments. “No Love” took aim at Dillashaw, who he called a “b****” and a “cheating b*stard” while also challenging him to a trilogy match.
“This dude is a b****,” Garbrandt tweeted. “10 days before our first fight the UFC flew me to Las Vegas to get epidural shots in my back because I couldn’t even walk I didn’t make any excuses or cry about it after I lost this cheating b*stard. Me vs tj book that shit epo can’t save you anymore.”
Dillashaw lost his second bantamweight title after testing positive for erythropoietin — better known as “EPO” — which is a performance-enhancing drug. Garbrandt has maintained that his former teammate was using banned substances to further his career long before he failed the drug test in 2019.
Dillashaw Took Garbrandt’s Belt After Coaching Opposite Him on ‘The Ultimate Fighter’
Both Dillashaw and Garbrandt trained together for years at Team Alpha Male in Sacremento, California. However, Dillashaw and the team had a massive falling out which led to both men coaching opposite each other during “The Ultimate Fighter” season 25 in 2017.
Later that year, Garbrandt put his 135-pound championship on the line against Dillashaw. And although No Love hurt Dillashaw in the first round at UFC 217, Dillashaw ultimately rocked and finished Garbrandt via second-round TKO.
The two rematched in 2018. And this time, Dillashaw needed less than a round to knock out Garbrandt.