TJ Dillashaw says he will be out another “year” following shoulder injury, vows to fight again

TJ Dillashaw will once again be back on the sidelines due to an injury.

Dillashaw served a two-year USADA suspension from 2019 to 2021 and in his return fight he was booked against Cory Sandhagen. During that contest, TJ hurt his knee which kept him out of action for another year. He recently returned to face Aljamain Sterling for the bantamweight belt at UFC 280, but in the lead-up to the scrap, he dislocated his shoulder multiple times.

Despite his injuries, TJ went through with the fight, but his shoulder once again came out which led to Sterling getting a second-round TKO win. Following the disappointing setback, Dillashaw says he will likely be sidelined another year. However, he is confident that he will fight again in the future.

“Another year,” Dillashaw said to ESPN about a likely time frame for his return. “Nine months until I can start training rough and tough, and then making sure everything is healed up. I’ve had shoulder surgery before and I’d say another year, maybe, to compete. Either a year to compete, or a year to get back to a training camp.”

Even though TJ Dillashaw says his shoulder injury only got worse with three weeks left in his training camp, he was still confident he would defeat Aljamain Sterling at UFC 280. Why he was so confident is due to the fact he says his shoulder injury was worse when he fought and beat Cody Garbrandt on two separate occasions.

“I’ve done that in many other fight camps before,” Dillashaw said. “I did talk to the referee beforehand, and this shoulder was worse than when I fought [Cody Garbrandt in 2017 and 2018], but it was something I’ve dealt with. I told [the referee] not to stop the fight because I would get it back in its socket. I was expecting to get it back in while I was fighting.”

If Dillashaw returns in a year, he will be 37 years old, but he remains confident he will be the champ again.

Do you think TJ Dillashaw will fight again?