In the high-stakes world of UFC, mistakes can cost you everything. Even the brightest stars with a promising future can end up being obscure with one violation. This is the case with T.J. Dillashaw. Before the EPO scandal broke, he was riding high as one of bantamweight’s brightest stars. But you know what they say about pride coming before a fall.
The trouble started when Dillashaw decided to chase that second belt at flyweight. His body wasn’t responding well to the cut, and that’s when he made a choice that would change everything. He used EPO. This is what he said about it in a recent podcast.
“Red blood cells is what takes oxygen to your muscles and so I had like, none anymore, just depleted…No matter what, I fu**ed up and I admitted that on my social media and almost I’m glad I did it but almost made it worse, right?” said Dillashaw via The Casuals MMA.
The fallout was swift and severe. One failed drug test later, and poof – there went his title, his reputation, and a year of his career. But here’s where T.J. Dillashaw’s story takes an interesting turn. Unlike many fighters who play the denial game until the bitter end, he owned up to it.
USADA, the UFC’s anti-doping watchdog, went full CSI on his career back then. They dug back through samples all the way to 2016 and retested everything twice! The good news for T.J. Dillashaw was that all those older tests came back clean. But as he pointed out with a touch of irony, being honest about his mistake might have actually made things worse.
T.J Dillashaw Reveals The UFC Put Millions Into Promoting Cody Garbrandt
Money talks in the fight game, and Dillashaw recently spilled some interesting tea about it. Back in 2016, the UFC bantamweight division was heating up with fresh talent. Among the rising stars, one name stood out – the undefeated Cody Garbrandt. He had done what no one could do: school the legendary Dominick Cruz for the title.
Click on ‘Follow Us’ and get notified of the most viral MMA stories via Google! Follow Us
According to Dillashaw, his former teammate-turned-rival caught the UFC’s eye in a big way. The promotion saw dollar signs and star potential in the young knockout artist. T.J Dillashaw recently revealed on The Casuals MMA podcast that the UFC poured about $6 million into marketing Garbrandt, hoping to craft their next superstar.
“He [Garbrandt] had an amazing fight against Cruz…The UFC’s like, ‘Hey, this is our next big horse. So they marketed the sh*t out of him, put him in a bunch of commercials, got some celebrities behind him. From what I was told, they put like $6 million into marketing him before our fight…So he went to massive stardom fast. They wanted him to be the next Conor McGregor.”
But here’s the funny thing about the fight game. All the marketing dollars in the world can’t guarantee success. Despite the UFC’s massive investment, Garbrandt’s reign at the top proved very short. The very man spilling these financial details, T.J. Dillashaw, would be the one to derail the hype train.
Also Read: “We Riot” – Upsetting News About Cody Garbrandt Sends Fight Fans In A Frenzy
