T.J. Dillashaw has addressed one of the most controversial moments of his career — the training incident that ended Chris Holdsworth’s time as a UFC prospect — insisting he never intentionally harmed his former teammate, while claiming Holdsworth lacked the competitive mindset to thrive at the elite level.
Speaking on Dominick Cruz’s Love & War podcast, Dillashaw revisited the 2014 sparring session at Team Alpha Male that allegedly left Holdsworth with severe concussion issues, ultimately ending his MMA career. Dillashaw acknowledges the incident happened but strongly denied malicious intent.
“Holdsworth was insanely good — like, the best grappler I’ve ever worked with,” Dillashaw said. “But he didn’t have that competitive mindset. He could have gone pro right away, but he would find reasons not to fight. He just didn’t have that killer instinct in him. And so he was always looking for a way out.”
Holdsworth, the undefeated winner of The Ultimate Fighter Season 18, was 6-0 and viewed as a top bantamweight prospect. But after the reported accident with Dillashaw in training camp for UFC 173, he never competed again. Over the years, several Team Alpha Male voices — including Urijah Faber and Cody Garbrandt — accused Dillashaw of being overly aggressive, even calling him a “gym bully.”
Dillashaw refutes those allegations. He described what he believes was the true cause of Holdsworth’s condition, claiming it may have started earlier in camp from accumulated impact and heavy weight cutting.
“I remember I hit him with an overhand right in boxing and ever since then, he had been dealing with concussion stuff,” Dillashaw said. “Later in camp, during MMA sparring, he shoots for a takedown, I stuff it, he stands, I throw a knee thinking I’d hit his chest — but he lowers his level and I accidentally knee him in the head. It was an illegal blow. I felt horrible. But it wasn’t malicious.”
He added that much of the story “got blown out of proportion” after he left Team Alpha Male for Duane Ludwig’s camp in 2015. According to Dillashaw, the rift between him and former teammates had more to do with financial disputes and loyalty issues—not the Holdsworth injury.
Cruz, who trained alongside Dillashaw, supported this view and emphasized that at the championship level, training comes with inherent risk.
“I want to win every round,” Dillashaw said. “Sometimes that gets the best of me. You’re in a room full of killers and everyone keeps going harder. And when you get the better of someone — you’re the bad guy.”
He ended with a blunt reminder: elite MMA training is not without danger.
“We’re training for world title fights. We’re not wrestling. We’re not playing chess. We’re playing a contact sport that bad things can happen.”
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