"They whipped out their phones, started recording" - TJ Dillashaw allegedly sent spies to Cory Sandhagen's camp
Professional MMA fighter Justin Wetzell has revealed that TJ Dillashaw sent spies to Cory Sandhagen's camp ahead of their bantamweight contender's fight in the UFC. Wetzell, who is Cory Sandhagen's main training partner, made the revelation while speaking to MMA journalist James Lynch.
Justin Wetzel stated that some of Duane Ludwig's affiliates showed up at their gym and recorded Sandhagen's sparring session on their phones. Duane Ludwig is TJ Dillashaw's head coach, who played the most crucial role in alleviating TJ Dillashaw's game to championship level. The strategy was caught when the 'spies' uploaded the recordings to their Instagram story and tagged TJ Dillashaw!
"He (TJ Dillashaw) had some (Duane) Ludwig students coming in to Friday sparring. I wasn't there on that day but I heard about this from other people and they're like, 'yeah, there's these Ludwig affiliates and they were, when Cory (Sandhagen) started sparring in the cage, they whipped out their phones and started recording.'"
"Later on, on the Instagram they posted some sh*t on their story bragging about it, 'Hey TJ, we got these rounds for you. We got it all recorded and blah'," Justin Wetzell said.
Spying on opponents is a practice that crosses the ethical boundaries of competition. However, it is not an uncommon strategy. Fighters in the past have admitted to spying on their opponents. Former UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo attributed his strategy in the Frankie Edgar rematch at UFC 200 to the insights given by 'spies' in Edgar's locker room during fight week. Aldo won the fight via unanimous decision to become the Interim UFC featherweight champion.
TJ Dillashaw vs Cory Sandhagen has been rebooked for July 24
Former UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw will fight Cory Sandhagen in his comeback fight. Dillashaw last competed against former flyweight champion Henry Cejudo in January 2019. After testing positive for the EPO in post-fight drug tests, Dillashaw relinquished the UFC title and was handed a two-year ban.
Originally scheduled for May 8, the fight was canceled after TJ Dillashaw suffered an eye injury. Sandhagen refused to fight Pedro Munoz as the late replacement fighter in the event, which resulted in the fight against Dillashaw getting rebooked for the July 24 event. The winner of this fight is the most likely challenger to the title after Aljamain Sterling and Petr Yan took care of the unfinished business.
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