The common theme around the mixed martial arts (MMA) water cooler is that since TJ Dillashaw popped for EPO earlier this year, he had to have been dabbling in the banned substance for some time now, since United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) doesn’t always test for that specific substance.
And the fact that two of his former training partners have stated that “Viper” has been doing it since day one, only intensifies that sentiment.
For Marlon Moraes, a man who has wanted to face him for some time now, he’s disappointed that he will never get to find out if Dillashaw was actually that good of a fighter without the aide of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs).
“We are all disappointed,” Moraes said in an interview with MMANews. “It was a fairy tale. We don’t know if he’s really that good of a fighter. It’s hard cause every time we get into camp, we want to get into shape, we want to get our conditioning good and this guy he wasn’t worried at all about that. If he was cheating now, he was cheating before,” said Marlon.
“He goes on the media and tries to say he’s giving up the belt. I think he was just trying to trick the fans but at the end of the day, what happened? They suspended him and I’m nobody to judge him, but now he’s going to have to pay for what he did?”
TJ was suspended for two years, and while some seem to think the punishment isn’t all that big of a deal, Marlon says his mandated sit isn’t long enough for what he did.
“Two years is not enough. It’s not enough for what he does, it was really serious, that’s my opinion,” he added. “He was cheating the system and that wasn’t the first time. That wasn’t the first time he was going to do it now with USADA all over everyone. Before, USADA wasn’t even around and I believe he was doing it before.”
Moraes will fight for the vacant Bantamweight title when he faces Henry Cejudo in the main event of UFC 238 on June 8, 2019. As far as Dillashaw is concerned, he won’t be eligible to return until 2021.
And to some, he may even return better than before, which could give Marlon his chance to discover whether or not the ex-champion is as good as he was advertised before his transgressions came to light.