T.J. Dillashaw didn't want to retire, would return if shoulder heals: I'm 'by far' the best bantamweight

T.J. Dillashaw is struggling to come to terms with retirement.

Dillashaw (17-5 MMA, 13-5 UFC) hung up his gloves after a TKO loss to bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling last October at UFC 280 – a fight where he dislocated his shoulder.

Dillashaw, 37, already had dislocated his shoulder numerous times during training camp, and knew the risk of it happening again against Sterling. But the recurring shoulder injury has forced him to take a step back, and if he can get it fixed to a point where he can compete again, the former two-time UFC bantamweight champion absolutely plans on doing that.

“I know that I’m still the best guy in the weight class,” Dillashaw said on the JAXXON PODCAST with Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. “By far, I believe I’m the best guy in the weight class, and for the sport to be taken from me the way that it was, it just doesn’t sit well with me. It kind of pisses me off. If the shoulder’s good, I’m definitely – I have to get back in there. I can’t let it go out the way it did.”

If Dillashaw never gets to fight again, he’s not happy with the final chapter of his career. His fate lies on how his next shoulder surgery pans out which comes with it’s complications.

“I didn’t want to retire,” Dillashaw said. “It’s been an actual real bitter thing. It’s been hard for me to be around the sport recently like even helping my training partner Juan Archuleta fighting in Japan in Rizin for the belt. It’s been hard for me to wrap my head around being around the sport at the same time being forced out of it (and how my) career panned out the way it did toward the end. (I’m) really just bitter.