“Dealing with shoulder issues since 2017” – TJ Dillashaw reveals how messed up his shoulder was before Aljamain Sterling fight at UFC 280

UFC 280 was one of the most stacked cards in recent history. The co-main event for the card was the Bantamweight Title Fight between TJ Dillashaw and Aljamain Sterling. Fans were surprised and disappointed to see how the fight played out. A shoulder injury for TJ reared its ugly head during the fight. As Sterling took down TJ, everyone watching was horrified to see TJ’s shoulder dislocate.

With TJ’s shoulder popping out during both of the rounds of the match, it’s safe to say that Dillashaw was well aware of the injury. In fact, he said on Ariel Helwani’s podcast: “I got surgery in 2019 when I got suspended because I’ve been dealing with shoulder issues since 2017.”

TJ then went on to reveal the full extent of the injury: “I tore my supraspinatus, which is a rotator cuff muscle… I have a full-thickness tear in my supraspinatus, I have a full-thickness tear in my infraspinatus, I have a tear in my teres minor, I have an anterior labral tear, and the head of my humeral head is dented from dislocating it.”

With many believing this to be Dillashaw’s last championship shot, it would be sad if it ends like this. TJ also revealed the timeline for his rehab: “I’d probably get back into decent practices in six, seven months.” So it seems that TJ Dillashaw will either return late next year or will probably miss the entirety of 2023. Nevertheless, when he’s back a whole slew of challengers will probably be waiting to get their hands on the former champion.

Related: Crowd chants “EPO” during TJ Dillashaw’s faceoff against Aljamain Sterling ahead of UFC 280

TJ Dillashaw reveals why he took Aljamain Sterling fight while injured

TJ Dillashaw has received his fair share of flak from the community and Dana White in particular, for fighting injured at UFC 280. Though Aljamain Sterling did not care much about this fact when asked about it. TJ Dillashaw however revealed that he had factored the injured shoulder into the game plan for the Sterling fight.

Speaking on the same podcast, TJ said: “It only affected my striking. It’s a perfect matchup, I think Aljamain’s striking is hot garbage anyway.” Maybe TJ had factored his injury into the plan to defeat Aljamain Sterling. However, everyone saw at UFC 280 why Sterling is the UFC Bantamweight Champion.

Also read – “Still feel I’m the champion”- Kamaru Usman is on a mission to regain his belt from Leon Edwards in 2023

TJ was dominated in both rounds and once his shoulder had been dislocated, he never got a chance to fix it during a round. Sterling never gave him the chance. Even though his shoulder was popped back in before the second round, once Sterling regained control of the fight, the shoulder was out again. This essentially ended the fight as Sterling’s strikes caused the TKO. Safe to say that TJ’s plan didn’t work.

Also Read: What is the beef between TJ Dillashaw and Urijah Faber?

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