T.J. Dillashaw, as they say, has been through some things.
The former two-time UFC champion isn’t looking for any sympathy. He knows he is one of the most reviled fighters in the sport.
Come Saturday afternoon, some respect could be due on Dillashaw’s name.
Saturday’s UFC 280 co-main event features the Orange resident looking to recapture his title from champion Aljamain Sterling at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Dillashaw (18-4), who already believes himself the best to ever fight at 135 pounds, seeks to join heavyweight legend Randy Couture as only the second fighter in UFC history with three title reigns in a single weight class.
No fighter has more bantamweight victories (13) than Dillashaw, but Sterling (21-4) is right behind him with 12 victories at 135 pounds.
Dillashaw, who wrestled at Cal State Fullerton and has ribbed Sterling for having been a Division III wrestler at State University of New York College at Cortland, doesn’t feel threatened by the champion.
“He’s not going to come out and knock you out, right? There’s not much power,” Dillashaw, 36, said via phone Tuesday from Abu Dhabi. “He doesn’t possess that finishing stuff. He’s a pretty methodical, like, grappler, desperate wrestler.”
Bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling, left, will defend his title against Orange resident and former two-time champion T.J. Dillashaw at UFC 280 on Saturday, Oct. 22, 2022, at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC)
Dillashaw pointed to Sterling’s second title fight with Petr Yan in April, which came 13 months after Sterling won a fight in which he was being dominated. Yan was controversially disqualified and lost the belt due to an illegal knee to Sterling’s head, which led to a lingering neck injury for Sterling.
In the rematch, Sterling was able to take Yan down just two of 22 times, but it was enough for the New York native to get his hand raised in a split decision.
While Sterling, 33, has technically won both his title fights with Yan, no one can match Dillashaw’s five victories in bantamweight title fights.
It was when Dillashaw decided to drop down to 125 pounds and unsuccessfully challenge Henry Cejudo for his flyweight championship in January 2019 when he tested positive for recombinant human erythropoietin (EPO) and surrendered his belt.
The suspension hangs over Dillashaw’s head every day and for every fight. He has owned it for the past 2½ years, but that didn’t preclude him from hearing it this week from Sterling and his team.
“It’s to be expected, I’m the one that made the mistake and I’m the one that’s gotta deal with the consequences, right?” said Dillashaw, who posted a remorseful admission upon being suspended in April 2019. “You do something, you gotta deal with the consequences and do your time. Part of my time and the consequences is being ridiculed and I shouldn’t have did what I did.”
T.J. Dillashaw, right, kicks Corey Sandhagen in their bantamweight fight July 24, 2021, at UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
Saturday will be only Dillashaw’s second fight in nearly four years. He became the No. 1 contender in July 2021 when he gutted out a split decision over Cory Sandhagen despite suffering a serious knee injury at the end of the first round. As Sandhagen went for a heel hook and Dillashaw delivered three stiff ground-and-pound lefts, Sandhagen kicked out to scramble up while Dillashaw tried to maintain top position.
Every ligament in Dillashaw’s left knee except his ACL was damaged. “My knee bent sideways, blew out my LCL. My meniscus was completely torn and flipped upside down, which is absurd. Tore my PCL, my medial, my lateral, my meniscus, just obliterated in the last 10 seconds,” Dillashaw said.
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After relegating himself to the sidelines for two years, Dillashaw had come too far to call off the Sandhagen fight. He knew the knee injury was bad – and that was before his right eye got busted open in the second round – but his obsession with wearing the strap again took over. He fought for 20 more minutes.
Now it’s been a long 15 months to get another title shot. Don’t discount another comeback.
“I’ve always known that I’m mentally tough. I’ve always known it’s something I pride myself on, just being competitive my whole life, and have learned to deal with fear in a positive way,” Dillashaw said. “That one went to another level. I’ve seen people back out of fights for less. I completely destroyed my knee and fought on it for four more rounds and with one eye and one leg, and I bit down on my mouthpiece and got that fight done and got the victory and squeaked it out. I don’t think people understand how much pain and how much uncertainty I’d gone through in that fight.”
UFC 280
When: Saturday
Where: Etihad Arena, Yas Island, Abu Dhabi
How to watch: Prelims (7:30 a.m., ESPNews/ESPN+); main card (11 a.m., PPV via ESPN+)
Bantamweight title challenger T.J. Dillashaw speaks during a press conference Thursday at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, just two days before UFC 280 on Saturday, Oct. 22, 2022. (Photo by Giuseppe Cacace/AFP via Getty Images)