Dominick Cruz Interested In Rematch With Demetrious Johnson
Who’s up for a super fight? Current UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz and current flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson are.
Johnson has cleaned out the flyweight division, and there have been rumors of him possibly moving up in weight classes and going to the bantamweight division. That’s a big jump for “Mighty Mouse.”
Cruz recently appeared on The MMA Hour and talked about the possibility of a fight with Johnson.
“You look at DJ, and you can’t deny that he is the best flyweight ever,” Cruz said. “He’s done great things. He’s defended the title. He’s going after a record of Anderson Silva‘s right now. He’s said himself, he’s pretty focused on that more than anything, and I kind of understand that. But at the same time, I don’t pick my fights and I never really have. I’m not opposed to a fight. If that guy wants to come up to 135 and try to challenge me, I don’t run from anybody, so I’m there.
Cruz admitted that he is looking to fight the best fighters in the bantamweight division which is picking up steam now that he is the champion.
“But right now, you look at who I’m facing, the landscape of the 135-pound division is probably looking the best that it’s looked in the past four years, in my opinion. It’s looking really good and I’ve got plenty of guys in this division who are my size, my weight, who want to scrap and are in line and knocking at the door and saying they want to beat me up already. So, if you really look at things, I’ve got a long list of guys who want to fight.”
Going back to Johnson, Cruz has interested as well everyone else regarding to how Johnson will do at a bigger weight class. Johnson is small but quick. Could he out move the heavier guys and beat them? Cruz wants to know that too.
“I think people want to see Demetrious move up because he’s just smashing these guys at 125,” Cruz said. “Everybody wants to see that untouchable guy beaten. It’s just the way the world works. So, they want to see him move up and see how great he can do also. Like, if he’s that good against bigger guys too, that’s what the people are curious of.
“If you look at him at 135 pounds, he was beating a lot of people, but there was always a size advantage that gave him trouble that he had to work around. At 125, he has nothing to work around. These guys are his size, they’re his height, and he can use his fundamentals, his technique, and his speed at their fullest potential because of that. When he comes up to 135, things are different. I mean, he lost to me. He lost to Brad Pickett. That’s because of size advantages, and then technique on top of that. So he is good. He’s the best flyweight ever. I agree with that. But, when you’re coming up to 135 pounds, that’s my division. Period.”
It should be noted that Cruz beat Johnson back in October of 2011 and Cruz won via decision.
Johnson is fresh off a Henry Cejudo at UFC 197 while Cruz is set to fight Urijah Faber at UFC 199. Time will tell if Cruz and Johnson fight.
