T.J. Dillashaw is pushing back on criticism of coach Sam Calavitta in the wake of Khamzat Chimaev’s split decision loss to Sean Strickland for the middleweight title at UFC 328.
Chimaev dropped the belt to Strickland at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., in a fight where he slowed down in Round 2 but appeared to regain energy later. After the bout, Demetrious Johnson questioned whether Calavitta had overtrained Chimaev, while Arman Tsarukyan said Chimaev cut 12 to 13 pounds on the final day and struggled with it.
Dillashaw dismissed the overtraining narrative. “People don't know what the hell they're talking about,” he said, pointing instead to the weight cut. “They only get to see what's on Instagram and then they want to find an excuse of why this guy lost. They don't want to say anything about when he foughtDDP(Du Plessis) and just had endless cardio, right? What it comes down to is a bad weight cut can destroy 12 weeks worth of work completely. And we all know he had a bad weight cut. The weight was not coming off of him. He didn't want to even follow through with the fight.”
Dillashaw also credited Calavitta’s approach. “It's an unfortunate situation, but they want to point blame when, in all honesty, Sam Calavitta is the one that actually made me pull back, and I know he's making these other guys pull back if they listen.”
Chimaev’s team now describes him as “obsessed” with a rematch against Strickland.
