T.J. Dillashaw still has much to offer the division he twice ruled.
The two-time Ultimate Fighting Championship bantamweight titleholder returned to the cage from a two-year United States Anti-Doping Agency suspension and eked out a split decision over Cory Sandhagen in the UFC on ESPN 27 headliner on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. All three cageside judges struck 29-28 scorecards: Derek Cleary for Sandhagen, Sal D’Amato and Junichiro Kamijo for Dillashaw.
Just 18 significant strikes—Sandhagen held a narrow 128-110 edge—separated the two men after 25 memorable minutes of hand-to-hand combat, so the nip-tuck nature of the decision was certainly understandable.