TJ Dillashaw has admitted he was attempting to "line his pockets" for his 2019 fight with Henry Cejudo where he tested positive for a banned substance.
Dillashaw was the bantamweight champion at the time, and moved down to flyweight to challenge Cejudo, who had just dethroned the legendary Demetrious Johnson a few months prior. Six weeks out from the fight, the bantamweight realised that his body wouldn't allow him to get down to 125lb on his own and he decided to take EPO to help stay energised while cutting.
And he has admitted that the reason he took the fight, as opposed to attempting to move up in weight or take another route to an historic moment was that he was keen to make as much money as possible. He admits now that he shouldn't have made the move, and all evidence indicates that he never used performance enhancing drugs before or since.
"Look at it now for sure I definitely should not have gone down," he told Mirror Fighting . "My body wouldn't let me but I was chasing something where we're talking about lining your pockets. We're talking about taking fights and making millions of dollars per fight.
"I was trying to secure my family forever - yeah for sure there's all that stuff about pound-for-pound and being the greatest but let's be honest, man, it's about the f***ing payday. It's about me making that money and being able to be like 'I'm good' and everything that comes along with that."
Dillashaw is back in action and in hot pursuit of another bantamweight title reign as he faces off with Aljamain Sterling this weekend at UFC 280. He lost his bout with Henry Cejudo in just 32 seconds even with his drug usage, but wasn't given a chance to lose his bantamweight belt before testing positive and being suspended for two years.
And he insists that he won't let his 'mistake' be the lasting legacy of his career, and wants to prove that he is still the best 135lb fighter in the world. "I was chasing that and I did something that my body wouldn't let me do," he continued. I got blinded with what the goal was and f***ed up. But I will not let a mistake define who I am and that's why I'm still here."
Dillashaw feels that he is not the only drug user in the sport, and without naming anyone argues that other fighters have gotten away with it in the past, while he confessed when found out through a positive test. Having served his ban, he has been tested 34 times by USADA since becoming eligible for competition again and has yet to fail.
"You hear a lot of people failing drug tests and it just gets swept under the rug," he added. "Because I came out and 'fessed up to it that's a little bit more public. But I felt like that was the best way to handle it and it is what it is. I feel like as a kid I did my fair share of getting in trouble and I never got away with anything. But I think learning through that was that 'fessing up to it was the best bet."
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And he's keen to get that result against Cejudo back now that his old rival is considering a return to the octagon. The Olympic gold medalist wrestler ended up claiming the bantamweight belt that Dillashaw left vacant before retiring in 2020 - and there is a possibility that the pair could fight again.
"Go back and watch the Cejudo fight - I got hit with the tiniest little part of his pinky," he insisted. "That's what dropped me in the back of the head and made me lose my balance. I was so malnourished and my brain had no fluid on it whatsoever and a flick of his pinky dropped me.
"It's so unfortunate that I did what I did to myself and I paid the price - the ultimate price. That one f***ing sucks and I've come back from it but hopefully he comes back out of retirement so I can whoop his a** too!"
Dillashaw was speaking as an ambassador for online privacy. If fans want to learn more about how to protect themselves online, he asks that they visit joindeleteme.com.
