TJ Dillashaw: I’m Just Taking An Opportunity That’s Given

Some surprising and even perhaps shocking news broke yesterday when UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw revealed he would be leaving his longtime home base Team Alpha Male to train at Colorado’s Elevation Fight Team, where he will be close by former TAM coach Duane “Bang” Ludwig.

Dillashaw’s mentor and good friend Urijah Faber famously (or infamously) has had an ongoing feud with Ludwig surrounding his departure from the team that has unfortunately spilled over into the media in an out-of-control manner. In between both his friend and trainer, it could be argued that Dillashaw’s decision to leave the team couldn’t have come at a worse time, and the oft-discussed title bout between him and Faber is now becoming a foregone conclusion.

After all, interim UFC featherweight champ Conor McGregor predicted (correctly) that Dillashaw would leave TAM after a recent appearance with Faber on their shared season of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 22, branding the aptly-named “Viper” a “snake in the grass”.

But the 135-pound champ is pulling no punches about his opportunity, noting that he’s looking to be treated well, and Elevation is now paying him to train there. He appeared on Stud Radio (via MMA Fighting) to set the record straight, proclaiming that with fighting a risky and short-lived career, he simply had to look out for his own best interests:

“Now, Elevation Fight Team came to me and they want to pay me some good money to train with them,” Dillashaw said. “They’re offering to pay me to train, instead of me paying to train. This sport is growing so much that that’s the way I feel like it should be. We’re professional athletes. I feel like I got treated better in college wrestling. I had a physical therapist on hand at all times, no matter what, when I was in college. And that’s not where MMA is at yet.”

“If anybody else was in my situation, they would take the exact same deal. This is a very short-lived career. I have to do what’s best for myself. I have to do what’s best for my career and being on top for as long as possible. I can’t fight forever. I’ve gotta fight and secure my future and decide what I’m gonna do with my life. This is a great opportunity.”

“The Viper” then addressed the glaring issue of Faber and Ludwig’s feud, continuing his support for “Bang” but voicing his hope that it would have worked out rather than the mess that came as a result:

“”I believe in Duane Ludwig as a coach,” Dillashaw said. “I love the guy. I train with him. Me and him mesh. When you find something that works, you keep it going. Me and him see eye to eye. We train well together.

“I wish the whole thing with Duane would have worked out. I wish Duane wasn’t so hard to somewhat get along with. I get along with him well. He’s a great guy. He means very, very well. Sometimes people hit heads and things don’t really work out. I really wish it would have worked out.”

Saying that he wants to keep in touch with his now-former teammate except for a select few, Dillashaw called the Faber – Ludwig feud “a bunch of bullsh*t that’s blown out of proportion.” With that established, Dillashaw reminisced on his time at TAM fondly, reaffirming that any pro fighter would be forced to make the difficult decision he did:

“I wouldn’t trade that in for the world. It’s got me to where I’m at. It’s helped me out. It’s taught me the person I am. I’ve learned so much here. The experience I’ve had here has been unreal. But when something like this comes at you, you can’t turn it down. I really don’t believe so. I believe anybody in my situation would do the same thing. And I believe it’s some of the best training in the world that I’m gonna get.”

As for the ultra-popular McGregor, who not surprisingly hopped online to congratulate himself for another prediction that came true, Dillashaw shrugged it off with a life. Regardless of what “Notorious” foresaw, he said, the bantamweight top dog is only taking advantage of the breaks he’s been given as an elite professional:

“Maybe he is able to read the future. I’m just taking an opportunity that’s given to me and I’m just trying to run with it.”