Aljamain Sterling explains why he enjoyed beating TJ Dillashaw in their UFC 280 fight
Former UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling has explained why it was so satisfying to defeat TJ Dillashaw in their UFC 280 showdown back in October 2022.
Back in the day, Aljamain Sterling was the best bantamweight on the planet. He defeated Petr Yan under controversial circumstances to capture the belt, before going on to successfully defend it against him. For his next assignment, he was tasked with taking on TJ Dillashaw, one of the most controversial fighters of his generation after testing positive for EPO.
While Dillashaw suffered an early injury in the fight and clearly wasn’t at 100% heading into it, Aljamain Sterling still did his job efficiently and secured the win.
In a recent interview with Dominick Cruz, Aljamain Sterling spoke about how it felt to get past Dillashaw.
Aljamain Sterling looks back at triumph over TJ Dillashaw
“That was a fun one,” Sterling said of his UFC 280 win. “Because I just knew he was a cheat for a very, very long time. I’ve known from his – See, I don’t even want to say that. I don’t want to say who told me, but people from his side of where he was training was saying that he’s the one that was showing people how to do it.”
“I can’t say for sure I have hard evidence other than the fact that his former gym, and I like to think where there’s smoke, there’s fire,” Sterling said. “Even with me, even if I was disliked, I think it would be a very hard thing for someone to ever come out and say I’ve done something because I’ve never talked about doing anything, shown anybody anything, there would never be anyone who could come out their face and say that ever.
“So like I said, I think where there’s smoke, there’s fire, and again, I don’t have any hard evidence. I feel like there’s been multiple people I’ve competed against that’s speculative.”
Quotes via MMA Fighting
In the present day, Sterling is currently enjoying life at featherweight as he goes in search of a second world title in the UFC.
