Photo by Mike Stobe/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC
Bellator’s Juan Archuleta expects a strong comeback for training partner T.J. Dillashaw.
It’s now been more than a year and a half since T.J. Dillashaw last set foot inside the UFC Octagon. The former UFC bantamweight champion had been serving a two-year suspension after he tested positive for EPO.
The 34-year-old also underwent shoulder surgery in April 2019 to repair a torn rotator cuff. Dillashaw is now back in the gym according to training partner Juan Archuleta, who shared some of their progress in a recent conversation with TMZ Sports.
“T.J.’s doing well, man,” said the Bellator featherweight (transcript by MMA Junkie). “He’s getting big, strong recovering from his double surgery, the shoulder surgeries, that he had. Of course, his suspension is coming to an end so we’re getting him ready so that when his suspension is lifted he’s gonna be ready to be in the title mix.”
For Archuleta, Dillashaw’s layoff may be a blessing in disguise, as it allowed some time for both physical and mental recuperation.
“I honestly think he’ll be a lot better,” he said. “You get that time off and you get to rest the brain, rest the body, and that guy’s always ‘pedal to the metal.’ So he gets to recover his whole body.
“People don’t know he was dealing with two shoulder surgeries going into that fight. Every other practice, I swear to you, man, we’d be wrestling or scrapping and his shoulder would just pop out!”
Dillashaw’s last Octagon appearance happened in January 2019 in Brooklyn, where he challenged Henry Cejudo for the UFC flyweight title. He ended up losing via TKO inside 32 seconds of action.