‘I Can Go My Whole UFC Career Without PEDs’

Cody Garbrandt and T.J. Dillashaw will never be friends again.

The pair of former Team Alpha Male (TAM) staples rose through the Bantamweight division together in Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) before each winning gold. With Dillashaw departing the gym first, it led to a sour rivalry between all involved and after two bouts against each other both resulting in Garbrandt’s demise, there’s still no love lost.

As UFC 296 rapidly approaches, Garbrandt gets ready to attempt to get back on a winning streak by taking out Brian Kelleher this weekend (Sat., Dec. 16, 2023). Meanwhile, an injury-ridden Dillashaw has since retired from mixed martial arts (MMA). Each fighter’s old coach and fellow former Bantamweight contender, Urijah Faber, recently expressed how he’s willing to bury the hatchet between him and Dillashaw. Garbrandt isn’t quite ready to say the same.

“It is what it is,” Garbrandt told ESPN. “T.J.’s no longer in the UFC, you see his career and towards the end of it and that’s the reason why he was — the substance he was taking, his body wasn’t able to uphold. Good for him, hats off to him for what he was able to do, but there’s always gonna be an asterisk, and there should be an asterisk throughout his name and whatever he’s done in his career.

“I know wholeheartedly that I can go through my whole UFC career and not ever have to take any performance-enhancing drug and just believe in my abilities, my skills, my mental fortitude, and he has to live with that,” he continued. “He has to live with that decision that he’s made. I don’t have any hatred, animosity for him. It is what it is at the end of the day. I’m here, he’s not. I don’t think he’s ever gonna be the T.J. Dillashaw from the past and for obvious reasons.”

Dillashaw, 37, infamously tested positive for erythropoietin (EPO) in a pre-fight drug test ahead of his UFC Flyweight title bout against Henry Cejudo in January 2019. Cejudo won the bout via first round knockout in just 32 seconds. Dillashaw’s final fight came in a title tilt opposite Aljamain Sterling, which he lost via second round technical knockout at UFC 280 in October 2022 (watch highlights).

---

Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 296 fight card right here, starting with the early ESPN+ “Prelims” matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. ET (simulcast on ESPN2 at 8 p.m. ET), before the pay-per-view (PPV) main card start time at 10 p.m. ET (also on ESPN+).

To check out the latest and greatest UFC 296: “Edwards vs. Covington” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here.