After one last failed run at Ultimate Fighting Championship gold,
T.J.
Dillashaw has elected to hang up the four-ounce gloves.
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Dillashaw recently informed the UFC of his retirement, and the
Twitter account UFC Roster Watch confirmed his
removal from the promotion’s roster on Monday. Micheal Wonsover
was first to report the news via
Twitter. Dillashaw’s agent, Tiki Ghosn,
later cofirmed the fighter’s retirement to
ESPN.
Dillashaw is coming off a loss to Aljamain
Sterling in a bantamweight title bout at UFC 280 on Oct. 22.
After falling to Sterling via second-round technical knockout,
Dillashaw revealed that he
entered the bout with a shoulder injury. Rather than pull out
of the contest, the Californian essentially fought Sterling with
one arm because he didn’t want to wait on a title shot. Dillashaw
underwent shoulder surgery on Nov. 10 and could require more
procedures, according to ESPN.
“Yeah it popped out right away. I’ve got to apologize to the weight
class, I kind of held it up. I completely blew my shoulder out end
of April,” Dillashaw told Daniel
Cormier in his post-fight interview at UFC 280. “I probably
dislocated it a good 20 times throughout training camp. This is by
far the toughest training camp I’d been through because of that
emotionally.”
Dillashaw went 1-1 after serving a
two-year USADA suspension for testing positive for recombinant
human erythropoietin (EPO) in relation to a loss to Henry
Cejudo at UFC Fight Night 143 in January 2019. Dillashaw
relinquished the UFC’s bantamweight belt when news of the positive
test came to light. He returned to edge Corey Sandhagen via split
decision in the UFC on ESPN 27 headliner in July 2021 before
suffering the lopsided defeat to Sterling.
Prior to the failed drug test that tarnished his reputation,
Dillashaw built a resume that rivals most any bantamweight in the
sport. He upset Renan Barao
at UFC 173 to capture the 135-pound strap and defended it twice
before falling to Dominick
Cruz at UFC Fight Night 81. Dillashaw regained the title by
stopping Cody
Garbrandt at UFC 217 and defended it against “No Love” in a
rematch at UFC 227. “The Ultimate Fighter 14” finalist went 13-5
within the Las Vegas-based promotion, earning notable wins against
the likes of Sandhagen, Garbrandt (twice), John
Lineker, Raphael
Assuncao and Barao (twice).