Former UFC bantamweight championT.J. Dillashaw is still not quite ready to return from knee surgery.
In August, Dillashaw underwent surgery to repair his left knee after suffering multiple tears during his main event split-decision victory over Cory Sandhagen at July’s UFC on ESPN 27.
Dillashaw entered the fight with multiple injuries, including damage to his knees, which resulted in limited performance during the fight and prompted a surgery that initially was thought to keep him sidelined for three months. Unfortunately, that timeline was derailed.
“(I’m) not training full time, not full go’s, that’s for sure,” Dillashaw told ESPN. “Actually, taking longer than I hoped to get to full recovery. It’s on track, though. I just didn’t realize how much work I was going to have to get done. I didn’t realize how beat up my knee was. I knew what I tore and things like that, and after I watched the video on what the doctor actually did – I messed it up really bad, especially that meniscus and stuff.
“It’s been taking a little longer than I wanted. I almost have full range of motion, you know, to get my heel to my butt and things like that. Strength is there. Just got to make sure I’m safe about getting those full motions in. Don’t want to set myself back. I can’t be in a rush to get in there because I’m going to hurt myself again.”
After his victory in July over Sandhagen, Dillashaw shot up 10 spots in the USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie bantamweight rankings, reaching the No. 3 slot after a long stretch of inactivity following his flyweight title challenge loss to Henry Cejudo in 2019. He also made his call for a shot at the bantamweight title he vacated after a failed drug test.
Although he is not yet committing to an exact timeframe for a return considering he is not training at a full clip just yet, Dillashaw hopes to return to action in the middle of 2022 if all goes well.
“I haven’t even gotten into full training yet,” Dillashaw explained. “I’m able to hit mitts. I’ve been doing a lot of strength and conditioning. I haven’t done any kind of grappling whatsoever – that’s probably the last thing that I’ll feel comfortable doing.
“First, I have to make sure everything holds up and then think about getting into a camp,” Dillashaw said. “So no exact timelines, but the way my weight class is right now, I’ve got time.”
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