EXCLUSIVE | TJ Dillashaw considers Cody Garbrandt his “second best win”

Earlier this month, in the co-main event of UFC 217, TJ Dillashaw put months of trash talk to rest, authoring a second-round knockout of his arch rival Cody Garbrandt to reclaim the UFC bantamweight title

Despite the massive stakes of this fight, however, Dillashaw does not consider it the biggest of his career. Instead, that honor goes to his first win over Renan Barao.

“It’d have to be my second best win,” Dillashaw explained on the latest episode of BJ Penn Radio. “Nothing will ever replace the time I beat Barao though. The first time, going to that fight as such a big underdog, and surprising everyone, and obviously just winning the belt and changing your life forever, you know, I’ll never be able to top that.”

While Dillashaw doesn’t consider this his best win, he was satisfied with the way he fought – and with his ability to absorb Garbrandt’s vaunted power punches.

“I was definitely satisfied with execution,” he said. “I let caution go a little bit there the last ten seconds of that first round. That first round was very close, and I knew that. And with me being on the losing end of some very close decisions – I just never wanted to go out that way again – so those last ten seconds I kinda tried pushing the pace, and I got a little overly aggressive ’cause I wanna make sure to win the round, and you know I came into Cody’s right hand. You know, I threw a straight right, hands were up and everything. But he just did perfect, man, I mean I took his hardest punch. He split it, he got outside, he threw that overhand right, and it landed on the button, you know. But I took his best shot and kept coming.”

How do you rank TJ Dillashaw’s win over Cody Garbrandt? Do you consider it his best ever?

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 13/11/2017.