T.J. Dillashaw got into a verbal dispute with Aljamain Sterling ahead of their title fight at UFC 280.
The reigning bantamweight champion will face former two-time division titleholder Dillashaw in his return to action this Saturday at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. It will be Dillashaw’s second outing after serving a two-year suspension from the United States Anti-Doping Agency. He tested positive for using EPO (recombinant human erythropoietin) before his bout with Henry Cejudo in Jan. 2019. Following the loss, he made a successful comeback against Cory Sandhagen in July last year to get the title shot.
Aljamain Sterling accuses T.J. Dillashaw is using steroids for the fight
At Thursday’s pre-fight press conference, Sterling accused Dillashaw of using prohibited performance-enhancing substances.
“Actually, I’ve got a couple questions. So you guys are all familiar with the Embedded episodes. For some reason, I haven’t seen T.J. in any of the Embedded episodes. That’s how he got caught last time. I wonder if there’s something going on that it might be a little fishy, T.J.?”
Dillashaw fired back with a weird insult
Dillashaw responded to Sterling’s allegations with a strong choice of words insulting his opponent.
“Look, I’ve come to terms with it. It’s time now. You’re going to get your ass whooped by a cheater, motherf*****. He’s so worried he can come test me himself. He can test these nuts in his mouth.”
The 36-year-old California native continued taking shots at the 135-pound champion, mocking his appearance at the presser.
“This DJ Jazzy Jeff-looking motherf***** is going to be down there saying ‘test, test 1-2, is this working,’” said Dillashaw (transcribed by MMA Fighting). He’s going to be a rapper supposedly. He’s already been a failed actor, now he’s going to be a failed rapper.”
Sterling will look to add a title defense under his reign after unifying the belts in his last outing against Petr Yan in April at UFC 273. Having never lost his title inside the cage, Dillashaw will attempt to create history by becoming a three-time bantamweight champion.
