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T.J. Dillashaw has detailed the shoulder injury that led to a disappointing performance at UFC 280.
It didn’t take long for anyone to realize Dillashaw was injured against Aljamain Sterling at UFC 280. The former UFC champion later revealed that he dislocated his shoulder at least twenty times during training camp. During an interview with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour, he had this to say about the injury:
"I wasn't super surprised that it happened. I'm just pissed it happened so fast and that it didn't go back in like I was hoping it would. It's sore now. I'm scheduled to get surgery next Tuesday."
Dillashaw then opened up about the specifics of his shoulder issues by saying:
"I got surgery back in 2019 when I got suspended because I've been dealing with shoulder issues since 2017. I blew my shoulder out when I was coaching the Ultimate Fighter doing the coaches' challenge playing tetherball on a balance beam above a pool. I blew my left shoulder out. I fell off, went to go catch myself on the balance beam to get back up as fast as I could to keep playing. It dislocated my shoulder... In doing so, I tore my supraspinatus, which is a rotator cuff muscle... right now, I have a full-thickness tear in my supraspinatus, I have a full-thickness tear in my infraspinatus, I have a tear in my teres minor, I have an anterior labral tear, and the head of my humeral head is dented from dislocating it."
Dillashaw received backlash for fighting with such a severe injury. He likely knew the shoulder issues would sideline him for a long time. This left the former champion to believe the best option was to take the risk while a title shot was available.
Watch the latest MMA Hour episode featuring T.J. Dillashaw and more below:
T.J. Dillashaw reveals timeline for returning to training
Assumptions about T.J. Dillashaw needing at least a year to recover filled the MMA community shortly after UFC 280. As it turns out, those assumptions aren’t far off. During the same interview with Ariel Helwani, Dillashaw said this when asked about the recovery timeline.
"I'd say I could probably get back into decent practices in six, seven months. I don't know exactly putting an exact timeline on a fight, but at least getting back to good practices and being able to feel comfortable doing it and not rushing it will be six, seven months."
The former UFC champion has a tough road to recovery ahead of him. Seeing Dillashaw return from this injury at 36 years old and fight for the title again would be a comeback story beyond belief.
Watch the Ultimate Fighter coaches' challenge where T.J. Dillashaw injured his shoulder below:
