After missing two years due to a failed drug test, Ultimate Fighting Championship bantamweight contender TJ Dillashaw will have to endure another hiatus after injuring knee ligaments during his main event victory at UFC Vegas 32.
TJ Dillashaw talks torn and ruptured knee ligaments from UFC Vegas 32
In a new post on his Instagram account, the former two-division champion detailed damaged knee ligaments suffered during the opening round of his bout on Saturday night against second-ranked 135-pound talent Cory Sandhagen. A fight he won by split-decision inside the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada.
“Went in for a mri today, found out that I suffered a displaced Bucket Handle tear of the Lateral Meniscus and a Lateral Collateral Ligament (LCL) rupture at the end of the first round landing ground and pound while being lazy in a compromised position,” Dillashaw wrote. “The good news is that these tears are repairable and will have a very speedy recovery. Going in for surgery in the next couple days. Loved being in the cage even though I had to push through some adversities to grit out the win.”
Dillashaw (17-4) missed more than two years from the sport after testing positive for a banned substance, following his January 2019 title fight loss to Henry Cejudo. That bout took place at flyweight, a weight class ten pounds lower than his normal division. Dillashaw has taken ownership of his failed USADA drug test since and claimed his use of recombinant human erythropoietin was to try and complete what was a difficult weight cut to 125-pounds.
No timetable was given on when the 35-year-old would be ready to return to training, and then be booked for his next Octagon appearance.
That next matchup very well could come in a championship fight against either Aljamain Sterling or Petr Yan. Those two men are set to fight in October in a rematch of their UFC 259 bout that ended by disqualification. After an illegal knee from Yan to a downed opponent in Sterling cost him his title.
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