Garbrandt: Dillashaw ‘playing the victim’
Cody Garbrandt on TJ Dillashaw departure: “It was his decision to leave, just like he could’ve stayed … I think he was playing the victim.”
UFC bantamweight and Team Alpha Make fighter Cody Garbrandt appeared recently on Ariel Helwani’s The MMA Hour, and discussed the departure of former team member TJ Dillashaw. Dillashaw and TAM founder Urijah Faber engaged in an extended bicker on social networks, that ended with Dillashaw barred from even entering the gym.
“It was his (Dillashaw’s) decision to leave, just like he could’ve stayed,” said Garbrandt, as transcribed by Hunter A. Homistek for MMA Fighting. “It was a grown-man decision for him to leave. If we’re not good enough for you, then why are you going to come in the gym and train with us then go out to Colorado and do your training there?
“I think he was playing the victim, and it’s like, we’re all tight with him, it’s cool, (but) it’s just making it harder. Do you want to stay with us or do you want to be out there? You can’t be in-between.”
“I talked to TJ before, and I said, ‘I wish you nothing but the best, but when and if we come down to fight, I’m going to look forward to it.’ You’re the world champion. You have what we all want…We’re going to be fighting each other. There are possible matchups, (so) why would you be in here watching and working with each other when you’ve already announced that you’re leaving and going to Denver and you have your coach out there?”
“For me, it opens a lot of doors. He’s a champion, and I’m on my own journey. I want to get a title run going, whoever’s next for me, and get in that spot. That’s why I got in this sport.
“I wanted to be a world champion since I was 13 – long before I knew who TJ Dillashaw was.”