Manager reveals actual reason behind T.J. Dillashaw's shocking retirement

T.J. Dillashaw surprised the MMA world when he reportedly informed the UFC of his intention to retire from the sport. News of the retirement was first reported by Michael Wonsover after the algorithm-based Twitter account UFC Roster Watch tweeted that Dillashaw was no longer on the active roster.

The 36-year-old underwent surgery on his left shoulder not long after his last outing against Aljamain Sterling at UFC 280 in October. Dillashaw entered the octagon with a pre-existing shoulder problem, which also gave out during the one-sided fight against Sterling, resulting in a second-round TKO loss for the former two-time bantamweight champion.

According to MMA journalist Ariel Helwani, news of Dillashaw's decision to retire was confirmed by his manager, Tiki Ghosn, who also revealed the reason behind his client's decision to step away from MMA was due to the shoulder surgery. Helwani stated:

"Basically, around a month ago, he had the shoulder surgery, coming off the Aljamain Sterling fight. And afterwards, when he met with his surgeon, the surgeon told him that it's going to be a long road, and there's a chance that he might need a second surgery down the line, that it's a very delicate injury, that it's one of the worst injuries to a shoulder that that particular surgeon had ever seen."

Helwani added that T.J. Dillashaw's decision came as a shock to both the UFC and his manager and that the promotion was informed about it within the last two weeks.

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When T.J. Dillashaw apologized for holding up the bantamweight division after UFC 280

T.J. Dillashaw lost his last bout against Aljamain Sterling at UFC 280 for the bantamweight title after suffering a gruesome shoulder injury during the fight. Sterling dominated the Californian to a second-round TKO win and derailed Dillashaw's plans of becoming a three-time bantamweight champion.

Dillashaw’s left shoulder was visibly dislocated within the first few minutes of the opening round. While his corner was able to fix it in between rounds, it got dislocated again in the second round, leaving him effectively fighting with one arm.

In his post-fight octagon interview with Daniel Cormier, Dillashaw expressed his regret for taking the fight knowing about his compromised shoulder:

“I gotta apologize to the weight class. Kind of held it up. I completely blew my shoulder out at the end of April, as soon as I was getting ready for this. I probably dislocated it a good 20 times throughout training camp."

The former bantamweight champion further continued:

"I told the ref in the back before we came out that most likely, the shoulder’s gonna pop out. If it does, I’ll get it back in, please do not stop it. Again, I apologize to the weight class ‘cause it’s a stacked weight class."

Watch T.J. Dillashaw's full UFC 280 post-fight octagon interview below: