TJ Dillashaw relinquished his Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Bantamweight title earlier today (Weds., March 20, 2019) after he was notified of an “adverse finding” by United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) weeks after his loss to Henry Cejudo at UFC on ESPN+ 1 in Brooklyn, New York.
As a result of the failed drug test, the New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC) fined “Viper” $10,000 and suspended him for a year retroactive to January 19, date of his loss to “The Messenger” in a Flyweight title fight.
Naturally, the news caught most (but not all) by surprise, as the mixed martial arts (MMA) community took to social media to react to chain of events that now sees the 135-pound weight class without a champion.
Among them was ex-division king Cody Garbrandt — TJ’s former training partner-turned bitter rival — who suffered two knockout losses to his ex-Team Alpha Male (TAM) stablemate. While Garbrandt was short on words, he went to Twitter to post his reaction via a not-so cryptic tweet.
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— Cody Garbrandt (@Cody_Nolove) March 20, 2019
Of course, “No Love” accused TJ of showing the entire team in Sacramento, California how to do certain steroids during his time training there. A statement that would insinuate that most of the famed camp at least knew how to take performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) properly.
Furthermore, Chris Holdsworth, another former training partner of TJ’s, accused the now ex-champion of being a “cheater” and being on “special supplements.” What exactly TJ tested positive for has yet-to-be revealed by USADA. Moving forward, UFC will now have to find the best two men to fight for the vacant strap in Dillashaw’s absence.
A rematch between Marlon Moraes and Aljamain Sterling sounds about right.