TJ Dillashaw has voluntarily vacated the UFC bantamweight title. In the wake of, USADA informing Dillashaw of an adverse finding, coming from a test taken for his fight at UFC Brooklyn on January 19 2019.
Details of what substance Dillashaw has popped for hasn’t emerged… yet.
As of this morning the USADA (United States Anti Doping Agency) and the NYSAC (New York State Athletic Commission), have not released a statement. However, that can change at any moment.
This is all stemming from Dillashaw’s bout with Henry Cejudo, at UFC Brooklyn, where Dillashaw dropped from Bantamweight to Flyweight to capture both belts and be the next double champion.
Dillashaw’s plans to be the Champ Champ, never came to fruition, that champ train was derailed by Henry Cejudo just after 32 seconds in the very first round.
Cejudo poured on a combination of strikes that had Dillashaw rocked, and the ref had seen enough. Crushing Dillashaw’s chance to see two belts in two different divisions.
Directly after the fight, TJ Dillashaw expressed his disdain of the refs’ decision to stop the fight, and team Dillashaw was very vocal in wanting a rematch.
There was also talk of Dillashaw’s camp having Cejudo’s win overturned.
Not too much has been said of that, after the initial fallout. Maybe there were reasons we are now discovering, as to why that was talk, at the moment.
In the wake of this mornings news, that hope will not come to pass.
When a fighter gets stripped of their title, there is much speculation and talk of did he or didn’t he…
With the case, of Dillashaw, who actually voluntarily gave up his belt, the speculation and chatter will be of a different kind.
Has TJ always been a cheat as TAM (Team Alpha Male), has said many times in the past?
Why now, and why when he went down in weight?
Most of the time when a fighter gets popped, they wait it out, to either see a decision in their favour, or get stripped of their title, or the win overturned.
Not too many fighters give up and give in.
This could be seen as a huge tell, of Dillashaw not wanting to have that label of being stripped, and worse a cheater, no longer with a title to hold. What does this say about Dillashaw’s fight history?
At 17-4-0 one would hope this was a one time mistake, or one could think TJ is good at cheating.
If you look at his history and fallout with Uriah Faber, and the rest of Team Alpha Male, the talk that surrounded the controversy… This can paint a picture of a calculating, less than an honest fighter, or the victim of bitter feelings.
Hoping that this is a one-time thing, we could speculate it was from his having dropped down a weight class to fight Henry Cejudo.
Maybe he needed help getting down to 125, or to stay healthy reaching that weight.
There has been the case of tainted supplements for other fighters in the past, which could be what happened to TJ Dillashaw.
It has been stated by multiple sources Dillashaw is suspended, one year, retroactive from January 19 2019.
For now, we are left to our own thoughts and countless reports of what ifs and maybes.
One thing is for certain, time will tell what really happened, and what substance or substances TJ Dillashaw had taken.
Stay tuned into MMA UK for further details of TJ Dillashaw voluntarily vacating the UFC Bantamweight title.
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