TJ Dillashaw is a fighter that always seems to be involved in some sort of controversy. Performance Enhancing Drugs, trying to hurt sparring partners, cheating… etc.

Dillashaw recently returned to the cage following a two-year-long suspension for PEDs, EPO in his case. He came back against top contender Cory Sandhagen in a fight that was extremely important for both men.

A win would help Sandhagen be next in line for the title whilst a win for Dillashaw would help determine his relevancy in the division. The latter would end up winning by split decision.

Dillashaw made a pretty surprising admission a few weeks after the fight. Speaking with Submission Radio, Dillashaw admitted he lied to the referee in order to keep the fight going.

Dillashaw had a large cut above his eye and the referee came in to take a look. Injuries near the eye can get the fight stopped if it is deemed a fighter can't see, what was TJ Dillashaw supposed to do?

“I guess camp kinda prepared me to be able to deal with injuries in the fight, I guess,” Dillashaw said (transcription by MMA News). “Because I had to kinda bury my injuries down deep during fight camp, and I had to definitely do it during the fight. And then let alone getting open in the second round, my eye, having to lie to the ref and tell him I can see…I just didn’t want the fight to get stopped.

“The doctor came in, I was like, ‘Yeah, man, I got it. Don’t worry. I can see,’” continued Dillashaw. “And at the time, I couldn’t, so walking out I was sure to take his wipey and I tried to wipe my eye even more and they told me I wasn’t able to do that…so just kinda had to tough it out, really, to be honest.”