Colby “Chaos” Covington has, predictably, shared his prediction for TJ Dillashaw’s return on Saturday night. The perennial welterweight contender believes that Dillashaw, coming back from a lengthy suspension, lacks the mental fortitude required to compete at the highest level once more.
Covington elaborated on this position to James Lynch: “Usually the general track record when you come back from a steroid suspension, you don’t fare well.
Covington: “I just don’t see him coming back successfully”
It doesn’t matter who they put in there against him, I just don’t see him being the same guy he was in the past.
Mentally when you take steroids and you have that advantage and that edge that you get from the lab, and then when you don’t have it, there’s a mental thing that it changes.
He’s probably doubting himself. I mean that’s why he’s already pushed the fight back as it is. He probably has a lot of doubts. It doesn’t matter who they put him in there to fight.
I just don’t see him coming back successfully and winning after coming back from a steroid suspension.”
Dillashaw was famously stripped of the bantamweight title over two and a half years ago when he tested positive for EPO use. Dillashaw had just lost via knockout to Henry Cejudo in an attempt to conquer two weight divisions, and has been open about his PED use. Covington, however, has no time for drug cheats in MMA.
It’s possible that this trash talk is linked to Covington’s long-standing feud with Kamaru Usman. Covington has previously labelled the welterweight champion “the CEO of EPO”, accusing Usman of using performance enhancing drugs to gain an advantage at welterweight.
Regardless of whether these accusations have any truth behind them, it’s clear that Colby is still gunning for the Usman rematch, even when he’s talking about other fighters in another division.
TJ Dillashaw never lost the bantamweight title in the Octagon. The UFC took the title, which now resides with Aljamain Sterling. In Cory Sandhagen, he faces a former training partner and the #2 ranked UFC bantamweight. A victory for either man means a shot at the winner of Petr Yan and Aljamain Sterling’s rematch, whenever that happens.
Do you agree with Colby Covington? Has TJ Dillashaw lost the shine and mental fortitude that took him to the top? Will ring rust and a lack of chemical assistance prove too much for the former champ? Let us know in the comments.
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