Last Night’s UFC on ESPN card was headlined by a high level bantamweight contender matchup between Cory Sandhagen and TJ Dillashaw. Dillawshaw was coming off a long USADA suspension for the positive test of EPO in his flyweight matchup with Henry Cejudo. This was going to be a test for the 35 year old as spending two years away from the sport was obviously going to be showing some signs of rust.
This fight was arguably one of the most anticipated fight of the year for many fans of the sport as Dillashaw, being able to return was going to get the conversation going about another title shot circling again. I think one thing will be that every opponent Dillashaw faces going forward is going to bring up the suspension for EPO. In plain and simple terms, yes, TJ cheated he knowingly injected EPO for an advantage and it came back to bite him in the end. However, I will say he served his suspension and seems serious to want to get back into to competing with the top tier talent in the 135 pound division.
The first opponent back for Dillawshaw being the #2 ranked Bantamweight makes the argument for a title shot hard to ignore as Sandhagen has really been on a tear including some highlight reel finishes including the flying knee KO of former champion Frankie Edgar.
The fight started off insanely hot with some great action including the video shown below with Sandhagen transitioning from a flying knee into what seemed for a moment as a pretty tight triangle attempt in the first round. That would’ve been a huge stock booster to Sandhagen.
Video: From MMAMidora/UFC
The first round also saw Sandhagen put on a pretty strong leg lock which seemed as though it did some damage to TJ and could effect him for the length of the five round fight. The second round also saw Sandhagen open a deep cut on TJ Dillashaw, which honestly made it seem as though Cory might be coasting his way through to the finish. However, one of the most important factors of being a fighter is having a strong gas tank and that is what began to happen as TJ was just the fresher, and more active fighter during the later rounds of the fight.
The fight did end up going to the judge’s scorecards and Dillashaw was able to gain two nods from two of the judges with a 48-47 split decision. There was one judge that sided with Sandhagen and with it being so close he should take that as a positive note as sometimes when it does go to the scorecards is can definitely be frustrating when you have felt enough damage has been done. I think honestly Sandhagen was one or two clean strikes away from finishing Dillashaw which would have been a fast track to a title shot.
Dillashaw being able to put out the victory is indeed very impressive and he deserves the recognition once again but the victory I’m sure is to be muddled with controversy. The doping suspension is going to be present for the rest of the career because Dillashaw lost two years of his prime to it. Also, being fast tracked into a title shot might garner some heat for the promotion because Dillashaw is a proven cheater and the rematch between champion Sterling and Yan has yet to be run back after the DQ victory.
Dillashaw still arguably has the best resume in the Bantamweight division with the list of contenders and former champions plentiful and that part of his career is most certainly hard to ignore. I think Dillashaw might have to wait for the rematch between Sterling and Yan before seeing if he can get a fight in the title picture very soon. Looking at Sandhagen the #2 fighter does not lose too much stock in this fight although a title shot will be difficult in the near future as he now has two losses one to Sterling and now Dillashaw. The most logical next matchup for him could be such as rising contender and #3 ranked Bantamweight Rob Font. Sandhagen is still extremely young at 29 years old and there is still plenty of time for the fighter to get his due and fight for a UFC title.