3 reasons why T.J. Dillashaw can regain the UFC bantamweight title and 2 reasons why he can't

#2. There are questions hanging over T.J. Dillashaw after his PED use

T.J. Dillashaw has question marks hanging over him following his positive test for EPO

The biggest question hanging over T.J. Dillashaw right now is undoubtedly his PED use and the effects that it might have on his upcoming return.

Dillashaw was suspended in 2019 for the use of the infamous performance enhancer EPO – the drug that was made famous by disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong. And unlike other UFC fighters who were busted by USADA, the former bantamweight champion didn’t attempt to proclaim his innocence, instead admitting to his mistake.

However, the big question isn’t whether Dillashaw used EPO – we know he did. The question is whether he simply turned to EPO for an advantage in his first-ever fight at 125lbs or whether he’d used the drug to gain an edge over opponents like Renan Barao and Cody Garbrandt in his UFC bantamweight title bouts.

After all, he was accused on multiple occasions by former teammates-turned-rivals like Garbrandt and Urijah Faber of PED abuse – with Garbrandt outright stating in 2017 that Dillashaw was “on everything.”

Dillashaw will surely be clean for his upcoming fight with Cory Sandhagen, and if he only turned to them for help in his UFC flyweight title bout with Henry Cejudo, then naturally, you’d expect him to look fine.

However, if his whole UFC career was built upon PEDs – and there is, sadly, a chance that it was, as questions hang over any fighter who tests positive – then it’s hard to imagine Dillashaw looking as good as he once did.

And if he can’t look like he did at his best in 2014 or 2018, then the likelihood of T.J. Dillashaw regaining his UFC bantamweight title is low.

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#1. T.J. Dillashaw has been on the shelf for too long

T.J. Dillashaw has not fought in well over two years at this stage

It’s always tricky for a fallen UFC champion to regain their title in the octagon. However, to win the championship after returning from years on the shelf would take a superhuman effort.

T.J. Dillashaw hasn’t fought in the UFC for over two years now, dating back to January 2019. He hasn’t won a fight in the octagon since his August 2018 win over Cody Garbrandt.

Even if he can overcome Cory Sandhagen this weekend, it’s unlikely that T.J. Dillashaw fight for the UFC bantamweight title until 2022 – meaning it’ll probably be four years since his last UFC bantamweight title bout.

But with two-and-a-half years on the shelf behind him, even beating Sandhagen this weekend will be an astronomic task for Dillashaw to pull off. Sure, the former champion has probably never stopped training during that period, but there’s a massive difference between training and actually fighting.

We’ve seen countless numbers of fighters return from years on the shelf – Alexander Gustafsson, for instance, or Urijah Faber – and they never quite looked the same as they did during their prime years. To compete at the top level in the UFC takes something special, and it’s easy to lose that when you’re not inside the octagon.

So to expect even a great fighter like T.J. Dillashaw to return from such a long time away and regain the UFC bantamweight title within a couple of fights seems like a step too far. Exceptionally few fighters would be able to achieve such a feat, and Dillashaw may not be one of them.