Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) bantamweight champion, TJ Dillashaw, surrendered his 135-pound strap earlier this month after failing his UFC Brooklyn drug test, which drew a one-year suspension from New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC).
His case with United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) is still pending.
Dillashaw claimed he was turning in his title “out of fairness and respect to the rest of the division” (read his full statement here). But ex-middleweight champion, Michael Bisping, suggests the move was an admission of guilt.
“No motherfucker relinquishes their belt out of respect for the rest of the division,” Bisping said on his official podcast (via MMA Fighting). “It ain’t about the rest of the division, it’s about me. I’m not gonna relinquish my belt once I destroy the competition and become the champion. I’m not gonna relinquish my belt out of respect for the competition. You just wouldn’t do that. So that in itself — and I apologize if I’m wrong — is almost an admittance of guilt. It really is.”
Dillashaw was going to be stripped of his title anyway, based on his disciplinary suspension from NYSAC, in much the same way Jon Jones was forced to relinquish his crown after pissing for picograms in the wake of UFC 214 in July 2017.
With Dillashaw out of the way, the last man to defeat him, flyweight champion Henry Cejudo, will bump up to bantamweight to battle top 135-pound contender, Marlon Moraes, in the UFC 238 pay-per-view (PPV) event in June.