T.J. Dillashaw reveals he followed Nate Diaz's philosophy in his game plan against Cory Sandhagen at UFC Vegas 32
Former UFC bantamweight champion T.J. Dillashaw is once again back in title contention with a hard-earned split decision victory against Cory Sandhagen in the main event of UFC Vegas 32.
At the post-fight press conference, T.J. Dillashaw was asked about his game plan against Cory Sandhagen. In response, Dillashaw quoted UFC welterweight Nate Diaz, saying that he planned to get in there, not get hit, and then collect his paycheck for the fight.
"I would like to quote the great Nate Diaz here. 'Get in there, hit him with some good sh*t, do not get hit, and come home a pocketful of cash" Dillashaw said.
T.J. Dillashaw further explained that he planned to keep pressuring his opponent throughout the fight. According to Dillashaw, Sandhagen isn't a great counter fighter. Keeping 'Sandman' on the back foot opened up opportunities for the former champ to land shots of his own as well as to shoot for the takedown.
"You know, Cory isn't much of a counter fighter. He's not like a guy who's going to counter you. Once you get him on his bike, he starts back-pedaling, and then you can do what you want with him. Chop his legs up, take him down but I couldn't use that as much as I wanted to. I was able to do it in the first round but I got lazy and hurt my knee so it took a lot of my game plan out of the window" T.J. Dillashaw said.
Watch T.J. Dillashaw's post-fight press conference below:
T.J. Dillashaw overcomes sheer adversity to make his octagon return a triumphant one
T.J. Dillashaw was out of the game for two years owing to a suspension for the use of a banned substance. On his return, Dillashaw had his work cut out against Sandhagen. The fight turned out to be a back-and-forth thriller that saw Dillashaw overcome sheer adversity to pick up the win at the end.
'Lieutenant Dan' was badly hurt and suffered a nasty cut above his right eye as Sandhagen landed a thunderous knee clean on his face. To his credit, Dillashaw simply ate the knee and kept moving forward, relentlessly walking his opponent down despite taking damage.
In the post-fight press conference, T.J. Dillashaw admitted he was unable to spar leading up to the fight due to multiple injuries.