TJ Dillashaw had a puke bucket with a UFC fighter’s name on it.
UFC 320 is right around the corner with a championship double-header.
This Saturday, Alex Pereira will rematch champion Magomed Ankalaev for the light heavyweight title in the pay-per-view main event.
The UFC Bantamweight Championship is on the line in the co-headliner between defending champ Merab Dvalishvili and top contender Cory Sandhagen.
The 135 lb division was once ruled by TJ Dillashaw, known to be one of the hardest workers in the training room and one of the greatest bantamweights of all time.
While the 39-year-old Dillashaw was ultimately sent into retirement because of injuries, the former champ is still in the gym, working a top contender to his core before his upcoming fight.
Josh Emmett in ‘the best shape of my life’ from training with TJ Dillashaw
At 40 years old, Josh Emmett says he has never felt better.
The former top-5 featherweight contender and feared knockout artist returns at UFC 320, looking to bounce back from a decision loss to Lerone Murphy in April with a win over Youssef Zalal this weekend.
A longtime member of Team Alpha Male, Emmett spent his last training camp with one of their greatest rivals in Dillashaw.
“The first workout, I was like, I haven’t felt this in the last four or five camps,” Emmett told Full Send MMA.
“I’m feeling I do need to maybe change things up, make some adjustments,” Emmett said of why he trained with Dillashaw.
“He was telling me people don’t come back after this because they realize how hard it is.
“Everything’s mental and that’s my strongest attribute. So, I just kept coming back and I was throwing up. He had a red bucket that had my name on it and I was like, f— that bucket…
“I think it was like the fourth time that I didn’t throw up. But I take that back because the fourth time I didn’t throw up, I celebrated. I went home. I had to pull over because I threw up in my mouth. I had to spit it out,” Emmett admitted.
“So it’s the fifth time I told him, and then I came back the fifth time, and then I finally said that bucket’s no longer undefeated. That was just the start of it, man. That’s 8-9 weeks ago. So, I am in the best shape of my life.
“I can’t wait to go out there and perform,” said Emmett.
Josh Emmett and Youssef Zalal both survived Ilia Topuria
Josh Emmett isn’t the only fighter to go the distance with UFC Lightweight Champion Ilia Topuria.
Emmett’s next opponent, Youssef Zalal, was the first man to reach the judges’ scorecards with the undefeated Topuria in 2020.
Topuria was 8-0 at the time of his UFC debut, which he made on short notice against Zalal.
Emmett can say he’s the only fighter to go five rounds with Topuria, although he was nearly finished multiple times en route to a lopsided decision loss in 2023.
Topuria praised Emmett for his toughness following their main event.