mma / News

Joe Rogan on TJ Dillashaw Failing Drug Test: ‘It Taints His Legacy’

April 11, 2019 | Posted by Jeffrey Harris

As previously reported, disgraced former UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw has been suspended for two years by USADA for failing a drug test for EPO. During this week’s edition of JRE, UFC broadcaster Joe Rogan shared his thoughts on the news when speaking to guest, award-winning MMA referee Herb Dean. Below are some highlights (h/t MMA Weekly).

Joe Rogan on Dillasaw: “This is just cheating. This isn’t any accident. To me, it’s a shame, too, because I’m a TJ fan. I think he’s a phenomenal fighter and I’m a big fan of watching him perform. But it taints his legacy. It just does. There’s no way around it. When you get caught cheating… this stuff, there’s no way it’s not cheating. This is just cheating. This isn’t any accident. It taints your legacy. The guy had an amazing legacy: two-time bantamweight champion, one of the best pound-for-pound fighters. The way he beat Renan Barao. I was like holy s–t.”

Rogan on still believing Dillashaw is an amazing fighter: “It doesn’t take away from the fact that he’s amazing. TJ’s an amazing fighter, but f—, man. To test positive for EPO in the Henry Cejudo fight. You’ve got to think, if you’re on EPO, how much does that allow you to train extra time? How much does it allow you to recover? What is the quantifiable benefit? It must be pretty significant. A lot of the cyclists, a lot of heavy duty endurance athletes use it. I almost want to try it.

Rogan on what he suspects EPO does for fighters: “I think what it does is it raises your threshold if you’re already an elite endurance athlete, too. They’re already looking for that extra edge… then they take that EPO… it jacks them up, they can do more work. They don’t run out of oxygen. They don’t run out of juice. And for a guy like TJ, his style is so kinetic, so much movement, explosion. He needs that juice. It’s crazy. It’s a hard one to swallow.”