How could anyone have expected things to go differently? That’s the question many fans and pundits found themselves asking after UFC 280, where TJ Dillashaw revealed a longstanding and debilitating shoulder injury in the aftermath of a one-sided beatdown at the hands of Aljamain Sterling.
By his own admission, the injury had been plaguing Dillashaw since April, and his shoulder had dislocated somewhere in the neighborhood of twenty times over his months of training heading into his October title shot against the bantamweight champion. Shortly after the fight began, it dislocated again, rendering Dillashaw largely helpless against Sterling’s wrestling attack.