The upcoming Championship fight between Bantamweights Cody Garbrandt and TJ Dillashaw at UFC 217 has a long and intense backstory.
TJ earned his UFC Bantamweight title while training at Team Alpha Male (TAM), where Garbrandt, among others, was training with hopes of earning a shot in the UFC.
TJ eventually left TAM to work with striking coach Duane Ludwig, and the break was anything but clean. Accusations of lies, backstabbing, and financial wrongdoing were the perfect ingredients for a lasting feud. TJ lost the belt in a close decision to Dominick Cruz, who in turn lost the belt in a not-so-close decision to current champion Cody Garbrandt. Now TJ is set to face Cody in a fight that has drawn as much emotional analysis as technical analysis from of the MMA community.
By far the most serious allegation has been that TJ injured a TAM member Chris Holdsworth after a sparring session, concussing him, endangering his life and derailing his career with the injury.
On a recent episode of the Joe Rogan Experience, Cody and TAM founder Uriah Faber claimed that TJ knee’d Chris Holdsworth in the back of the head while they were resetting, after Holdsworth had submitted TJ in sparring. This accusation is extremely serious and, for many, it fits with TJ’s character- competitive to the point of losing control.
Yesterday on The MMA Hour, Dillashaw admitted that he occasionally crossed the line in sparring:
“Have I been overly aggressive in some sparring sessions? Yes, I have,” Dillashaw said. “There’s things, there’s punches and things I’ve thrown that’s been too aggressive and I’ve gotten to where I’ve had to tell myself, yeah, I shouldn’t have done that, kind of thing…I’ve gotten too aggressive in sparring, which we all have.”
But TJ denied the claim that he kneed Chris Holdsworth and concussed him:
“They said I got submitted by Chris Holdsworth, and then I kneed him in the back of the head while he was grounded and after the round, whatever it may be. So you’re telling me I’m kneeing people in the back of the head in between rounds and ruining their careers, but you want me to stay on your team? …How does that make any sense whatsoever?”
TJ also gave what sounded like a defense of his hyper-competitive nature.
“I got thrown into the lion’s den when I got to Alpha Male. My first sparring session was with Joe Benavidez, Chad Mendes and those guys, just bleeding from my face, it’s not like they took it easy on me. It was one of those things where we sparred 3-4 days a week, and we got thrown in there and that’s what made me as tough as I am.”
Whatever the true case may be, the beef between Garbrandt and Dillashaw will be settled on November fourth in Madison Square Garden at UFC 217. Many are already calling this fight ‘the real main event.’ It is sure to be a display of the highest Bantamweight skill in UFC history, and to the delight of many fans, it already feels like a grudge match.
Do you think TJ Dillashaw is guilty or innocent?
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