Former UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw retired from the sport in December of last year due to a serious shoulder injury, but there was always some suspicion that the 37-year-old might one day return.
However, a few months later Dillashaw has reluctantly doubled down on his retirement after revealing that his first shoulder surgery didn’t go according to plan.
“This is retirement,” Dillashaw wrote on Instagram. “But in all honesty I’m pretty pissed that I didn’t get the chance to choose to retire. I feel that I’m [too] good to hang ‘em up.
“Haven’t told many people but I have to go under the knife again for surgery because my first surgery didn’t take.
“Being told that my shoulder will never be good enough to compete again is hard to hear. I have been delaying my surgery trying to find a better solution.”
Dillashaw’s shoulder issues were clear for all to see during his title shot against Aljamain Sterling back in October of last year, when he returned after a long layoff only to have his shoulder dislocate more than once during the fight.
The former two-time 135lb champ revealed afterwards that his should had popped out over 20 times in training for the fight, but he’d still chose to compete as he didn’t want to give up on the chance to fight for the belt.
Dillashaw had been a major force at bantamweight during his 17-5 career run, though his legacy was tarnished in 2019 when he dropped down to flyweight to fight Henry Cejudo for the belt and lost by TKO in just 32 seconds, only to then also test positive for EPO, leading to a two year suspension from the sport.
