Dana White reacts after TJ Dillashaw apologizes for fighting injured at UFC 280: “That’s something he should have told us”

Dana White is reacting after T.J. Dillashaw apologized for fighting injured at UFC 280.

It was T.J. Dillashaw (18-5 MMA) vs Aljamain Sterling (22-3 MMA) in the bantamweight co-main event this past Saturday, October 22nd in the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. The result was a loss for Dillashaw via TKO stoppage at 3:44 of Round 2. Aljamain Sterling successfully retained his UFC bantamweight championship title.

In speaking with Daniel Cormier at the post-fight interview, T.J. Dillashaw spoke about challenges with his shoulder heading into the fight:

“It popped out right away – I’ve got to apologize to the weight class. I kinda held it up. I completely blew my shoulder out at the end of April, as soon as I started getting ready for this, and probably dislocated a good 20 times during training camp.”

Continuing, Dillashaw elaborated on the match-up with Sterling saying (h/t MMAFighting):

“This is by far the toughest training camp I’ve been through because of that, emotionally. That’s why I was talking some s**t about his standup, because I didn’t want him to wrestle. I knew that was the case. I told the ref in the back before we came out that most likely my shoulder was going to pop out – if it does, I’ll get it back in – please do not stop it. Unfortunately, in that second round, I couldn’t push off my shoulder. So hat’s off to Aljamain for doing what he does, and great win.”

In 2019, T.J.Dillashaw underwent surgery to repair both of his shoulders. Returning to the Octagon in July of 2021, ‘Lieutenant Dan’ suffered a knee injury in his victory over Cory Sandhagen (15-4 MMA).

It is true that fighters undergo a pre-fight physical to assess their capability of competing on fight night. Obviously, Dillashaw was cleared to fight, and Dana White had no prior knowledge he was fighting injured.

Reacting to Dillashaw’s apology for fighting injured, UFC President, Dana White had this to say:

“I had no idea, so that’s a problem. How could the athletic commission know if he doesn’t tell us? You’ve got to tell us. He looked good. It’s not like he came in out of shape, or looked like he was injured, but yeah, that’s something he should have told us.”

Were you watching Dillashaw vs Sterling this past Saturday night? What do you think of Dillashaw entering the Octagon injured? Do you agree with the comments from Dana White?

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