Cody Garbrandt Questions ‘Broken’ Dominick Cruz’s Heart
There’s a new king of the UFC’s bantamweight division, and his name isn’t Dominick Cruz or TJ Dillashaw.
Cody Garbrandt shook up the mixed martial arts (MMA) world when he outclassed Cruz in their 135-pound title bout in the co-main event UFC 207, handing ‘The Dominator’ his second-ever loss of his illustrious career. ‘No Love’ snapped “The Dominator’s” decade-long win streak and handled him unlike anyone we’ve ever seen before.
Now Garbrandt is slated to make his first career title defense against former Team Alpha Male teammate Dillashaw after they square off as coaches on The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 25. The UFC bantamweight champ recently spoke to MMA Fighting to discuss his win over Cruz, and questioned the former king of 135 pounds’ heart inside the Octagon:
“I was very surprised with Dominick, all the sh*t talking he did,” Garbrandt said. “What he said he was gonna do to me, he wasn’t able to do that, so I was just waiting for him to get the rematch. Give him the rematch, give him the respect for being the most dominant bantamweight fighter in the world. If I talked a lot of sh*t and kid comes and beats me up like that, I’d at least try again, because I have a fighter heart.”
“I feel like Dominick doesn’t [have a fighter’s heart],” Garbrandt said. “I think I broke Dominick in that fight and truly don’t think Dominick will be the same.”
While Garbrandt may prefer an immediate rematch against Cruz for his first title defense he’s fine stepping into the Octagon with Dillashaw, who he labels as ‘not a good person’:
“That’s fine,” Garbrandt said. “I’m very content with fighting T.J. I’m happy to fight T.J. T.J.’s not a good person. He’s not a good person. He’s kind of a generic version of Dominick Cruz.”
How do you see the matchup between Garbrandt and Dillashaw going down? And will ‘No Love’ and Cruz get the opportunity to run it back again down the road?
