TJ Dillashaw narrowly emerged with a split decision victory over Cory Sandhagen in his comeback fight at UFC On ESPN 27 last weekend, but he didn’t emerge from the bout unscathed.
A heel hook attempt from Sandhagen in the opening round injured Dillashaw’s knee, and while he was able to fight on to victory he later learned that he’d require surgery to fix the damage.
“No place like home, this right here brings me all the joy I need. #daddyshome,” Dillashaw wrote on Instagram.
“Went in for a mri today, found out that I suffered a displaced Bucket Handle tear of the Lateral Meniscus and a Lateral Collateral Ligament (LCL) rupture at the end of the first round landing ground and pound while being lazy in a compromised position. The good news is that these tears are repairable and will have a very speedy recovery. Going in for surgery in the next couple days.
“Loved being in the cage even though I had to push through some adversities to grit out the win. Thank you for the support, it’s belt season now. 🏆”
Dillashaw had previously explained how the injury happened and how it had affected his performance from that point onwards.
“My knee, I popped it in that first round,” Dillashaw had told Daniel Cormier. “I got lazy, I knew he had a leg lock and I was just chilling on top. Got lazy and let him pop it there at the end. I couldn’t throw my hooks in. When I took him down, one time I tried to throw my hook in, my knee popped and I had to bail out. So I kinda stopped and I took his back. My gameplan was to throw the hooks in and that went out the window obviously, you know.”
