Former UFC bantamweight champion T.J. Dillashaw said an extreme weight cut prompted him to use the banned performance-enhancer erythropoietin (EPO) prior to UFC on ESPN+ 1.

In his first interview since he gave up the belt and accepted a two-year suspension, Dillashaw said he began to “crash” as he attempted to move from his usual weight division down to the flyweight class for a title fight with champ Henry Cejudo.

Six weeks before the Jan. 19 fight, Dillashaw said he used the drug Procrit to counteract his lethargy. Procrit, which is used for chemotherapy patients, is the trade name for the compound epoetin alfa, a “man-made version” of human EPO, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Dillashaw said he’d tested his blood and discovered levels of hematocrit – the volume percentage of red blood cells in blood – in the high 30s, which is on the low end for males and indicates approaching anemia.

“I decided to take something I knew I wasn’t allowed to take,” Dillashaw said on the “You’re Welcome” podcast with Bellator fighter and UFC analyst Chael Sonnen. “It is an anemia medication that would help me not only make the weight, but be myself.

“I’m not mad I did it, because I don’t think I could have taken the fight. I’m obviously going to own up that I cheated and got caught. And it’s a rough one. It’s hard not to hate yourself a little bit. I don’t know.”