T.J. Dillashaw

Tyler Jeffrey Dillashaw (born February 7, 1986) is an American former professional mixed martial artist who competed in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he is a former two-time UFC Bantamweight Champion.

Dillashaw competed on the 2011 Ultimate Fighter season. In 2014, he won the UFC Bantamweight Championship by dethroning Renan Barão, who was on a 32-fight unbeaten streak. Dillashaw lost the title to Dominick Cruz by split decision in 2016 before regaining it against Cody Garbrandt in 2017. He was later stripped of the belt in 2019 after testing positive for a banned substance, erythropoietin, in the drug tests for his UFC Flyweight Championship bout against Henry Cejudo. He received a two-year suspension and made his comeback in 2021, challenging for the bantamweight championship again in 2022 before retiring.

Early life Dillashaw was born in Sonora, California, to Hal and Janice Dillashaw. He grew up in Angels Camp, California, alongside his two brothers Justin and KC with KC being the oldest one out of the three.

Wrestling

High school While wrestling for Coach Jan Schulz at Bret Harte High School, Dillashaw was a four-time sectional qualifier and two-time California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) state qualifier. As a junior, Dillashaw placed fifth at the CIF state championships, and ended the season with a record of 45–7. He placed second at the CIF State championships as a senior to cap off a 52–6 record and finished with an overall record of 170–33.

Mixed martial arts career After graduating from California State University, Fullerton in 2009 with a Bachelor of Science in kinesiology, Dillashaw contemplated starting a career in MMA. While competing in the UFC's middleweight division, MMA fighter Mark Muñoz was coaching at Fullerton and met Dillashaw, inviting him to join his Reign Training Center fighter class at the conclusion of his senior year. After training with Team Reign for a year and a half, Munoz encouraged Dillashaw to move up north closer to his hometown of Angels Camp, CA to train with Team Alpha Male in Sacramento. While training there, Dillashaw collected a 2–0 amateur record before turning pro.

On March 26, 2010, Dillashaw made his professional debut against fellow pro debutant, Czar Sklavos. Dillashaw used his superior wrestling to earn a dominant unanimous decision win. Two months later, Dillashaw returned to fight Brandon Drucker, winning the fight via first round submission. The fight took place at Fight For Wrestling, an MMA event located in California attempting to raise money to fund the Cal Poly wrestling team.

The Ultimate Fighter In 2011, Dillashaw signed with the Ultimate Fighting Championship to compete on The Ultimate Fighter: Team Bisping vs. Team Miller. In the first episode, he fought Matt Jaggers to gain entry into the Ultimate Fighter house. Dillashaw defeated Jaggers in the first round by TKO.

Dillashaw was selected as part of Team Bisping, the second bantamweight chosen for the team (seventh overall). Dillashaw defeated Roland Delorme via rear naked choke submission in the preliminary round and moved onto the semi-finals. It was there he fought Dustin Pague for the first spot in the bantamweight final on the finale card. Dillashaw dominated Pague, grinding out three tough rounds to win the fight via unanimous decision (30–26, 30–27, 30–26).

Ultimate Fighting Championship Dillashaw officially made his UFC debut on December 3, 2011, in Las Vegas, Nevada, at The Ultimate Fighter 14 Finale. The fight was the final of the bantamweight tournament against John Dodson to determine the winner of The Ultimate Fighter 14. Dillashaw lost via TKO in the first round.

Dillashaw's sophomore outing came on February 15, 2012, at UFC on Fuel TV 1 against Walel Watson. Dillashaw dominated Watson using his superior wrestling to control him on the ground, while nearly ending the fight several times with multiple submission attempts. Dillashaw won the bout via unanimous decision (30–25, 30–25, 30–26).

Dillashaw fought Vaughan Lee on July 11, 2012, at UFC on Fuel TV: Munoz vs. Weidman. He won the fight by submission via a standing neck crank in the first round.

Dillashaw was expected to face Mike Easton on December 8, 2012, at UFC on Fox 5. However, Dillashaw was forced out of the bout with an injury and replaced by Bryan Caraway.

Dillashaw faced Issei Tamura on March 16, 2013, at UFC 158. Dillashaw won via knock-out 26 seconds into the second round.

Dillashaw faced Hugo Viana on April 20, 2013, at UFC on Fox 7, replacing an injured Francisco Rivera. He won the fight via TKO in round one.

Dillashaw was briefly linked to a bout with Raphael Assunção on September 4, 2013, at UFC Fight Night 28. The fight was delayed due to Assunção suffering a minor medical issue.

The bout was rescheduled and took place on October 9, 2013, at UFC Fight Night 29. Assunção defeated Dillashaw via split decision. 10 out of 13 media outlets scored the bout for Dillashaw. The back and forth action earned both the participants Fight of the Night honors.

Dillashaw faced Mike Easton on January 15, 2014, at UFC Fight Night 35. He won the fight via unanimous decision.

First Bantamweight Championship Reign Dillashaw was expected to face Takeya Mizugaki on May 24, 2014, at UFC 173. However, with the show losing its main event, Dillashaw was moved up the card to face Bantamweight champion and top 5 pound for pound Renan Barão in the featured bout. Dillashaw was an 8 to 1 underdog entering the bout. In one of the biggest upsets in UFC and MMA history, Dillashaw won the fight in dominant fashion, defeating Barão via TKO in the fifth round to become the new UFC Bantamweight champion. In addition to winning the title, Dillashaw received bonuses for Fight of the Night and Performance of the Night.

While interviewing Dillashaw after the fight, Joe Rogan said:

An immediate rematch with Barão was scheduled to take place on August 30, 2014, at UFC 177. However, the day of the weigh-ins, Barão had to be admitted to the hospital as a result of his attempts to cut weight and was replaced by Joe Soto who was already scheduled to compete in a fight on the event's preliminary card. Dillashaw defeated Soto via knockout in the fifth round. The win also earned Dillashaw his second consecutive Performance of the Night bonus award.

A rematch with Barão was rescheduled and was expected to take place on April 25, 2015, at UFC 186. However a month before the event, Dillashaw was forced out of the bout after sustaining a broken rib while training.

The rematch eventually took place at UFC on Fox 16 on July 25, 2015. Dillashaw won the fight via TKO in the fourth round to retain his title. He also earned a Performance of the Night bonus.

Dillashaw faced former champion Dominick Cruz on January 17, 2016, at UFC Fight Night 81 He lost the bout and the title via split decision. Both participants were awarded Fight of the Night honors.

Road back to the title A rematch with Raphael Assunção took place on July 9, 2016, at UFC 200. He won the fight via unanimous decision.

Dillashaw faced John Lineker on December 30, 2016, at UFC 207. He won via a dominant unanimous decision, wherein the bout was scored a 30–26 in favour of Dillashaw by all three judges.

Coaching The Ultimate Fighter and regaining the title In January 2017, the UFC announced that Dillashaw would be one of the coaches, opposite current UFC Bantamweight champion (and former Team Alpha Male teammate) Cody Garbrandt on The Ultimate Fighter 25, with the pairing expected to face each other on July 8, 2017, at UFC 213. However the bout was scrapped on May 23 after Garbrandt sustained a back injury. The bout was rescheduled and eventually took place on November 4, 2017, at UFC 217. Dillashaw won the fight via knockout in the second round to regain the UFC Bantamweight Championship. This win also earned Dillashaw his fifth Performance of the Night bonus award.

Dillashaw faced Cody Garbrandt in a rematch for the UFC Bantamweight Championship on August 4, 2018, at UFC 227. He defeated Garbrandt in the first round by way of TKO. This win earned him the Performance of the Night award.

Fight with Henry Cejudo Dillashaw was initially scheduled to face Henry Cejudo on January 26, 2019, at UFC 233 for the UFC Flyweight Championship. However, after that pay-per-view event was cancelled, the fight was moved a week earlier to headline UFC Fight Night 143 on January 19, 2019. Dillashaw lost the fight via TKO just 32 seconds into the first round.

Doping ban and relinquishment of Bantamweight title On March 20, 2019, Dillashaw announced that he would be voluntarily relinquishing the UFC bantamweight championship after USADA and the New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC) found adverse findings following his bout against Henry Cejudo. Dillashaw received a 12-month suspension from the NYSAC, retroactive to January 19, 2019, the date of his bout against Cejudo. On April 9, it was announced Dilllashaw had been suspended for two years by USADA (an additional suspension to what was given by the NYSAC) due to testing positive for recombinant human erythropoietin (rHuEPO, a synthetic form of EPO) prior to the Henry Cejudo bout. He became eligible to return on January 19, 2021.

On April 12th, Dillashaw broke his silence over the drug test failure and UFC suspension with a post on Instagram, acknowledging that he had used a banned substance and stated that the decision was his alone, and that what he "really [felt] bad about" was the bad light he brought upon his coaches, family and teammates by association. He also said his use of EPO was limited to the Cejudo fight and said that USADA had retested all of the samples from his prior drug tests to confirm this.

Return from suspension After the two-year hiatus due to his USADA suspension, Dillashaw was scheduled to face Cory Sandhagen on May 8, 2021, at UFC on ESPN 24. However, Dillashaw announced on April 27 that he had to pull out of the fight due to a cut he received from a headbutt in training. The pair was rescheduled and served as the main headliner for UFC on ESPN: Sandhagen vs. Dillashaw on July 24, 2021. Dillashaw won the fight via split decision. The decision was seen as somewhat controversial, with many fans, fighters, and media members expressing their belief that Sandhagen won the bout. 17 of 23 media outlets scored the bout as a victory for Sandhagen. During the fight, Dillashaw suffered a knee injury which kept him out of action over the next year.

Dillashaw faced Aljamain Sterling for the UFC Bantamweight Championship on October 22, 2022, at UFC 280, attempting to become UFC champion for a record-tying third time. Dillashaw, who was hampered by a dislocated shoulder from early on in the bout, lost the fight via technical knockout in round two. In his post-fight speech, Dillashaw admitted that he had come into the fight with an ongoing shoulder problem, saying "I probably dislocated it 20 times in training camp."

On December 5, 2022, Dillashaw was removed from the UFC roster after deciding to retire from MMA.

Personal life Dillashaw married Rebecca, in June 2014. In October 2015, Dillashaw left Team Alpha Male and moved his camp to Denver, Colorado, to train with his head coach, former UFC fighter Duane Ludwig. It was later confirmed that Dillashaw had left Team Alpha Male as a result of a number of disagreements, and accusations of injuring teammates on a number of occasions in training. Accusations included forcing promising Ultimate Fighter winner, Chris Holdsworth (6-0), to retire at the age of 27 due to concussions sustained from Dillashaw using illegal knees on a downed opponent during practice.

Championships and accomplishments Ultimate Fighting Championship UFC Bantamweight Championship (Two times) Two successful title defenses (First reign) One successful title defense (Second reign) Three successful title defenses (Overall) Most title bouts in UFC Bantamweight history (7) First fighter to finish a title bout in the fifth round twice (UFC 173 & UFC 177) Most wins in UFC Bantamweight title bouts (5) Tied (Matt Hughes, Randy Couture & Chuck Liddell) for third most knockouts in UFC title fights (5) Fight of the Night (Three times) vs. Raphael Assunção, Renan Barão 1, and Dominick Cruz Performance of the Night (Five times) vs. Renan Barão (2), Joe Soto, and Cody Garbrandt (2) Tied (Sean O'Malley) for most knockouts in UFC Bantamweight division history (7) Fifth most significant strikes landed in UFC Bantamweight division history (1122) Fourth most total strikes landed in UFC Bantamweight division history (1522) Upset of the Year & Ranked #8 Fight of the Year 2021: Ranked #9 Fight of the Year

World MMA Awards 2014 Upset of the Year vs. Renan Barão at UFC 173 Pundit Areana 2017 Fight of the Year vs. Cody Garbrandt at UFC 217 MMA Junkie 2021 July Fight of the Month Fight Matrix 2014 Most Lopsided Upset of the Year 2021 Comeback Fighter of the Year 2014 Upset of the Year Bazzie Award CBS Sports 2016 #9 Ranked UFC Fight of the Year 2017 #3 Ranked UFC Fight of the Year Bleacher Report 2014 #2 Ranked Fighter of the Year Combat Press 2014 Upset of the Year Fightland 2014 Technical Turn-Around of the Year

Amateur wrestling California Interscholastic Federation CIF High School State Championship Runner-up (2004) CIF All-State (2003, 2004) National Collegiate Athletic Association NCAA Division I Qualifier out of California State University (Fullerton) (2007, 2008, 2009) Pac-10 133 lb Conference 4th Place out of California State University (Fullerton) (2007, 2008)

Mixed martial arts record Loss

Aljamain Sterling TKO (punches) UFC 280

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates Win

Cory Sandhagen Decision (split) UFC on ESPN: Sandhagen vs. Dillashaw

Las Vegas, Nevada, United States Loss

Henry Cejudo TKO (punches) UFC Fight Night: Cejudo vs. Dillashaw

Brooklyn, New York, United States Win

Cody Garbrandt KO (knee and punches) UFC 227

Los Angeles, California, United States Win

Cody Garbrandt TKO (punches) UFC 217

New York City, New York, United States Win

John Lineker Decision (unanimous) UFC 207

Las Vegas, Nevada, United States Win

Raphael Assunção Decision (unanimous) UFC 200

Las Vegas, Nevada, United States Loss

Dominick Cruz Decision (split) UFC Fight Night: Dillashaw vs. Cruz

Boston, Massachusetts, United States Win

Renan Barão TKO (punches) UFC on Fox: Dillashaw vs. Barão 2

Chicago, Illinois, United States Win

Joe Soto KO (head kick and punches) UFC 177

Sacramento, California, United States Win

Renan Barão TKO (head kick and punches) UFC 173

Las Vegas, Nevada, United States Win

Mike Easton Decision (unanimous) UFC Fight Night: Rockhold vs. Philippou

Duluth, Georgia, United States Loss

Raphael Assunção Decision (split) UFC Fight Night: Maia vs. Shields

Barueri, Brazil Win

Hugo Viana TKO (punches) UFC on Fox: Henderson vs. Melendez

San Jose, California, United States Win

Issei Tamura KO (head kick and punches) UFC 158

Montreal, Quebec, Canada Win

Vaughan Lee Submission (neck crank) UFC on Fuel TV: Muñoz vs. Weidman

San Jose, California, United States Win

Walel Watson Decision (unanimous) UFC on Fuel TV: Sanchez vs. Ellenberger

Omaha, Nebraska, United States Loss

John Dodson TKO (punches) The Ultimate Fighter: Team Bisping vs. Team Miller Finale

Las Vegas, Nevada, United States Win

Taylor McCorriston TKO (punches) Capitol Fighting Championships

Sacramento, California, United States Win

Mike Suarez Submission (rear-naked choke) Rebel Fighter: Domination

Roseville, California, United States Win

Brandon Drucker Submission (rear-naked choke) Fight For Wrestling 1

San Luis Obispo, California, United States Win

Czar Sklavos Decision (unanimous) KOTC: Legacy

Reno, Nevada, United States

Mixed martial arts exhibition record Win

Dustin Pague Decision (unanimous)

Win

Roland Delorme Submission (rear-naked choke)

Win

Matt Jaggers TKO (punches)

Pay-per-view bouts

NCAA record

Res. Record Opponent Score Date Event

Loss 0-6

Loss 0-5

Loss 0-4

Loss 0-3

Loss 0-2

Loss 0-1