Aljamain Sterling scored one of the biggest wins of his career when he beat T.J. Dillashaw at UFC 280, and he took some personal satisfaction from it as well.
In his second defense of the bantamweight title, Sterling grounded Dillashaw in the second round and pummeled him en route to a second-round knockout. Dillashaw later revealed he entered the bout with an injured shoulder, but regardless, for Sterling this was a signature win over one of the best fighters ever to compete at 135 pounds.
On the Love & War podcast with Dominick Cruz, Sterling mentioned he also enjoyed beating Dillashaw because of Dillashaw’s 2019 drug test that resulted in him being stripped of a UFC title and suspended for two years.
“That was a fun one,” Sterling said of his UFC 280 win. “Because I just knew he was a cheat for a very, very long time. I’ve known from his – See, I don’t even want to say that. I don’t want to say who told me, but people from his side of where he was training was saying that he’s the one that was showing people how to do it.”
Dillashaw confessed to using EPO, a prohibited substance, after the UFC’s then-drug-testing partner USADA discovered adverse findings in his submitted samples. He claimed he only ever used performance-enhancing drugs ahead of a January 2019 clash with Henry Cejudo, and subsequent testing of prior samples appeared to back up Dillashaw’s claim.
Still, Sterling is convinced that the accusations publicly lobbied against Dillashaw by his former teammates at Team Alpha Male – including Cody Garbrandt, who claimed Dillashaw showed fighters at the gym how to use supplements – are enough to cast doubt on Dillashaw’s credibility.
“I can’t say for sure I have hard evidence other than the fact that his former gym, and I like to think where there’s smoke, there’s fire,” Sterling said. “Even with me, even if I was disliked, I think it would be a very hard thing for someone to ever come out and say I’ve done something because I’ve never talked about doing anything, shown anybody anything, there would never be anyone who could come out their face and say that ever.
“So like I said, I think where there’s smoke, there’s fire, and again, I don’t have any hard evidence. I feel like there’s been multiple people I’ve competed against that’s speculative.”
Dillashaw hasn’t had too many kind things to say about Sterling, recently saying Sterling was “the weakest champion” as justification for why he took their title fight despite having a bum shoulder. So it’s not surprising Sterling isn’t pulling his punches when it comes to taking shots at Dillashaw’s reputation.
In fact, Sterling’s criticism of Dillashaw seems to be tied to not just Dillashaw’s failed drug test, but how Sterling views his character.
“It was just interesting that nobody had any follow-up questions,” Sterling said. “He was just like, ‘Oh yeah, yeah, sure, I showed everyone how to do it.’ And then that was it. I was like, what is this, high school? Like, you guys are not going to ask questions as the media? What do you mean he showed you guys how to do it? What exactly did he show you guys how to do? That’s all I’m saying and then this is not even including the other people that I’m talking about.
“It is what it is, he passed, he passed. Only him, he can sleep at night with his conscience knowing if he actually did or not. T.J. just seems like one of those types of guys who just doesn’t give a shit anyway other than about himself. I know it’s a fight, it’s either you or him, but in terms of taking something and really damaging somebody? I don’t know, I feel like I have a little bit more of a moral ground than that. … I know the goal and objective is to hurt your opponent, but if I’m going to enhance myself to do that, I think it’s a little bit dirty.”
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