Former UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw has been facing things head on ahead of his return to action after serving a USADA suspension. Now he opens up on his decision to use EPO, and shares why it will never happen again.
There seem to be two kinds of people in this world: those who believe that Dillashaw only took EPO one time in order to make 125lb, and those who think he has been using his whole career. While we may never know for sure, TJ has maintained that he is being upfront and honest about the situation.
He continued these sentiments while speaking in a recent interview with Jimmy Smith. In one of the most honest interviews he has done ahead of his return to action against Cory Sandhagen this weekend, he explained that he took EPO because he thought he could get away with it, and was trying to use it to make 125lb to be a champ-champ.
“I was a shell of myself. I was in talks of being the best pound for pound fighter in the world, now I’m going to drop down to 125 and get another belt. I’m trying to cement that future, I’m trying to get paid, I’m trying to do all these great f—king things, and cut to a weight class that I thought was very doable. I was like ‘F—k, I can do this,’ and even going through the process I was like ‘Yeah I look good,'” Dillashaw explained.
“Now I look at pictures from then and I looked f—king disgusting. I looked like a crackhead. I looked really, really bad, and in the moment I didn’t really think about it, but I was waking up in the morning, I was freezing cold, I had no energy. I was full blown anemic. My hematocrit dropped down in the thirties.
“When you wake up a shell of yourself and you’re supposed to be the baddest man on the planet, it’s a mental like… What am I going to do?” Dillashaw continued. “I had this opportunity in front of myself to just set myself up forever. Forever. I’d been in the game and I knew how they were doing it, they’re very strict. I took a chance.
“They came and tested me while I was like five or six weeks out, I don’t remember the exact time, I was like ‘F—k man, they’re most likely not going to test me until close to the fight. I’ll be good.’ I know I was able to take this, I did my research… I was like ‘Man, I can probably get by with this.’ That was my hope. It was either that or pull out of the fight, which in hindsight I should’ve just f—king pulled out of the fight… I thought I’d be able to get away with it, man.”
🔊"I thought I'd be able to get away with it, man."@TJDillashaw spoke candidly after @jimmysmithmma asked him about his motivation to take EPO & the 'hoping it'll work out' mindset about passing drug testing before his fight with Henry Cejudo #UFCVegas32 pic.twitter.com/0KAszXD2lR
— MMA on SiriusXM (@MMAonSiriusXM) July 21, 2021
TJ Dillashaw Is Seeking Redemption
Throughout all of this, TJ Dillashaw has maintained that this is a one-time thing that will never happen again. A lot of people do not seem to believe that this is the case, but he is going to have the chance to prove it when he takes on Cory Sandhagen in the UFC Vegas 32 main event this weekend.
This bout is being considered a number one contender, fight with the winner being next in line once the bantamweight title picture clears up. Although TJ says that he is looking at it as another title defense, having said that he still feels like he is the champion.
Either way, if TJ Dillashaw is able to get past Cory Sandhagen, and do so while being “under a microscope,” it will go a long way towards vindicating him. Matt said, it does not seem like this is something that he is concerning himself with all that much.
