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Bryan Caraway compares T.J. Dillashaw to Lieutenant Dan

By Josh Criswell

Jun 7, 2014; Albuquerque, NM, USA; Bryan Caraway (blue) celebrates his victory over Erik Perez their bantamweight bout during UFC Fight Night 42 at Tingley Coliseum. Caraway won via second round submission. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 7, 2014; Albuquerque, NM, USA; Bryan Caraway (blue) celebrates his victory over Erik Perez their bantamweight bout during UFC Fight Night 42 at Tingley Coliseum. Caraway won via second round submission. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports /
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Bryan Caraway spoke with the media about his friendship with T.J. Dillashaw following his victory at UFC on FOX 16, comparing the bantamweight champion to a beloved character from Forrest Gump.

Bryan Caraway and T.J. Dillashaw go way back, dating back to their time together on The Ultimate Fighter. The duo of extremely talented fighters has also trained together with Team Alpha Male.

Caraway touched on their relationship following his unanimous decision victory over Eddie Wineland at UFC on Fox 16 on Saturday. When doing so, he revealed a nickname that him and his fellow training partners have for the reigning bantamweight champion.

“He’s almost a psycho,” Caraway said. “As kind of a funny joke, Team Alpha Male started calling him Lieutenant Dan because he’d snap. If he didn’t have a training partner or someone wasn’t there, he’d just freak out. I’d be like ‘dude calm down.’ It was like his life depended on it. And I knew that great things were going to come out of him.”

Lieutenant Dan refers to the comically irritable character from the critically-acclaimed film, Forrest Gump. On a more serious note, Caraway described how Dillashaw’s recent success and constant drive has inspired him to become a better fighter.

“Now its awesome. I’ve been an old dog in this sport for a long time. I’ve been fighting for 12 years. To see somebody young and hungry come in after I’ve already fought in the WCF, already fought in Showtime, already fought in Strike Force…To see him come in with that kind of energy and see his hard work propel him past me to a world championship, he was a big motivation to me. Training with him when he was below me when I used to beat him up, to coming up and being a world champion now, I was like, ‘that’s the s— I need to do.'”

Given his recent victory over Wineland, the No. 6 ranked fighter in the bantamweight class, Caraway could get a shot at his good friend and competitor in the near future.

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