T.J. Dilashaw: Why I took PEDs
“It’s hard not to hate yourself a little bit. To – I don’t know. It’s a tough one.”
T.J. Dillashaw was suspended for two years and lost his UFC bantamweight title after failed a test for EPO (Erythropoietin) a performance-enhancing drug that stimulates red blood cell production. During a recent appearance on Chael Sonnen’s You’re Welcome podcast Dillashaw broke his silence.
I’ve hidden out, I haven’t done any interviews, I haven’t done – I’ve just kind of hidden away from – there’s things I’ve been wanting to say, but I didn’t, because I don’t want to create any excuses, said Dillashaw, as transcribed by Jon Fuentes for Low Kick MMA. Let’s start off, first and foremost, I cheated. I don’t want to run around that, that’s why even I announced it when USADA was coming out. I didn’t want to create excuses.
It was like, look, this is it, I did it, I want to be upfront with you guys. I didn’t want to create any excuses of why I did it, I knew eventually I would talk about it, and this is now, it’s the first time I have. I was so into doing something that has never been done before. Not the two champs. Obviously, I wanted that more than anything, I wanted to prove I’m the best in the world, but was also to drop that weight class. I’m a lean 135’er. I wanted to drop the weight class to go to the 125s, and I played it off to how easy it was going to be – ‘I can do this, no problem, I always cut weight.’
And I pushed my body to the extreme. About six weeks out, my body started to crash, I started to get tired, I started feeling I didn’t want to wake up for practice. I test everything. I test my hair for toxins, I test my saliva for hormone levels – I want to be the most optimized athlete I possibly can. And I started crashing.
I decided to take something I knew I wasn’t allowed to take. It’s called Procrit, it’s an anemia medication that would help me, not only make the weight, but be myself. And, you know, I’m not mad I did it, because I don’t think I could’ve taken the fight. I’m obviously going to own up that I cheated, I got caught – it’s a rough one man. It’s hard not to hate yourself a little bit. To – I don’t know. It’s a tough one.