Full Details Revealed On TJ Dillashaw Retiring From Active Competition

The mixed martial arts (MMA) world has been rocked by the announcement of former two-time UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw retiring, and fans are scrambling for details as to why.

ESPN's Michael Wonsover first broke the news that Dillashaw had let the UFC know that he was calling it a career after going 1-1 in his past two fights following his two-year suspension between 2019 to 2021.

MMA personality Ariel Helwani provided some more details in a video posted to his Twitter account after speaking with both Wonsover and Dillashaw's manager Tiki Ghosn.

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

"He told Tiki (Ghosn) that he wanted to walk away, that he had had enough. It came as a shock to both Tiki and to the UFC, I'm told, but they did inform the UFC within the last two weeks, week and a half or so that his decision was to retire. Obviously gonna rehab, try to get back to a hundred percent. Who knows what happens down the line."

The shoulder surgery that Helwani noted happened nearly a month ago on November 10, just a few weeks after his TKO loss to Aljamain Sterling in the latter's bantamweight title defense at UFC 280.

Most fans began their search for answers when Twitter account UFC Roster Watch revealed that Dillashaw was removed from the roster despite Wonsover being the first to report the development.

Dillashaw, then the UFC bantamweight champion, was targeted by Conor McGregor during The Ultimate Fighter 22 with his now-iconic "snake in the grass" comment to Urijah Faber in reference to Dillashaw's partnership with Duane Ludwig.

It would escalate to being a full-blown feud between Dillashaw and his former Team Alpha Male campmate Cody Garbrandt, further propelling him to superstar status.

However, fan perception of Dillashaw has been mixed since he popped for the use of erythropoietin (EPO) that saw him get stripped of the title in 2019, which further led to questions of how long he had been using the substance, was he on EPO when he fought in marquee events, and whether he was a legitimate champion, to begin with.

He returned from his suspension with a split decision victory over Cory Sandhagen on July 24, 2021, and many were questioning how much gas was left in his tank as he was pushed to his absolute limit by Sandhagen.

Dillashaw retires from MMA with two UFC bantamweight title reigns and a record of 17 wins, 11 finishes, and five losses plus the distinction of having the most wins in bantamweight title bouts with five.