TJ Dillashaw

TJ Dillashaw is an American mixed martial artist who competes in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). He was born on February 7, 1986 and currently holds a UFC Bantamweight title.

Dillashaw began wrestling at age 13, competing for Brea-Olinda High School in California and later attending Cal State Fullerton where he won two Pac-10 Conference Championships. After college, TJ decided to pursue mixed martial arts more seriously and began training with Urijah Faber’s Team Alpha Male gym in Sacramento. During his time at Team Alpha Male he had great success as an amateur fighter winning tournaments such as the Tachi Palace Fights Flyweight Tournament Championship and Fight of the Night honors at King of The Cage: Fight Night II.

In 2011, Dillashaw made his debut into professional MMA when he signed with UFC to take part in The Ultimate Fighter Season 14. TJ ended up winning the tournament by beating John Dodson via unanimous decision earning him a six fight contract with UFC as well as The Ultimate Fighter award which included a rv worth $100k. In 2014 Dillashaw went on to become the new UFC bantamweight champion after defeating Renan Barao in front of 10’s of thousands of people at MGM Grand Garden Arena Las Vegas Nevada which was named “Upset Of The Year” by Fox Sports 1 . Following this historic upset win over Barao, TJ went on to successfully defend his title four times before losing it to Dominick Cruz via split decision at 2016’s UFC Fight Night 81 event held January 17th 2016 due to being stripped from team alpha male over disputes about money regarding coaching contracts between head coach duane Ludwig and Urijah faber . Despite all these losses , Dillashaws record still remains impressive , having gone 16 wins , 6 losses , 4 draws . Furthermore , although no longer fighting under team alpha male banner post 2016 how ever due dillahsaws successes during that period earned him place amongst top 5 current bantamweights according ESPN rankings list since 2017 even today showing high level skills have not abated since then .

Since then Gillishaw continued competing within bantamweight division however once again returned victorious against Cody Garbrandt recapturing championship belt plus becoming only second man ever win back -to- back championships within same weight class history ufc octagon ; feat soon followed up another successful defense against henry cejudo who challenged tj for both flyweight bantam titles while making history becoming first simultaneous dual champion may 2019 forcing both men rematch june 2020 where cejudo ultimately pulled off stunning victory resulting loss former champions streaks breaking streak 29 – 3 start career .