T.J. Dillashaw: UFC Fight Night Opponent Mike Easton ‘Kind of Easy to Figure Out’

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T.J. Dillashaw doesn’t really expect to see anything new from Mike Easton when they meet Jan. 15 in a bantamweight bout at UFC Fight Night 35.

In an interview with the Sherdog Radio Network’s “Beatdown” show, Dillashaw discussed his opponent, the split decision he dropped to Raphael Assuncao in October and more.

On whether the decision loss bothered him: “Absolutely. I was on a four-fight win streak, climbing the ladder. I did everything to win that fight. I pushed the pace the entire time. The only round I feel like I lost was the second round, just letting him hold onto some positions a little bit longer than I should have let him. He went backwards the entire fight. I landed the significant strikes. It’s just unfortunate we had to fight in Brazil. I feel like that was a little bit of a corrupt decision, in my opinion, but you’ve got to forget about it. I was pretty mad about it for a while, but you’ve got to look past it and you’ve got to grow from it.”

On whether he’d hesitate to take another fight against a Brazilian in Brazil: “I want to say yeah, but no. This is my job. I do what they tell me to do and I do it to the best of my potential. I feel like I’m a team player, and yeah, I am a little mad about it, but it is what it is. I’m going to have to leave it in my hands next time. I don’t want to have to fight there, but if I get asked to, I’m going to have to.”

On how he might adjust his style: “I guess I’ve got to kind of let go of my aggression and what everyone else wants to see in a fight and kind of make sure I win the fight. That is a smart way to look at it. … I’m kind of a really aggressive guy and I let that get the best of me sometimes when yeah, I should maybe use my background a little bit more and make sure those rounds are more decisive in my favor by getting a couple more takedowns and controlling more of the round, but it’s just so hard when you just want to be entertaining and be real aggressive.”

On Easton: “He’s a very technical fighter. I’m not looking past him at all because he’s good, but I feel like I’m going to use his technical fighting style against him. He’s almost too traditional and does too much of the same stuff.”

On what he expects from Easton: “He seems like the same kind of fighter every time I’ve seen him in the cage. He hasn’t really switched it up yet, so maybe he’s been taking some time to plan it against me, but I feel he’s going to use his same style. He’s going to do the same footwork he does every time, come forward with the same punches. He’s kind of a real rhythmic fighter. He does the same thing over and over again. It’s almost kind of easy to figure it out.”

Listen to the full interview (beginning at 1:08:12).