TJ Dillashaw: Dominick Cruz Is Scared To Fight Me Again
Former UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw has been campaigning for a rematch with current division champ Dominick Cruz since the ending of their initial bout, in which Cruz took home a split decision win over Dillashaw to recapture the title he never lost after being held outside of the Octagon after a string of injuries.
Instead of an immediate rematch, however, Dillashaw was instead handed Raphael Assuncao at UFC 200 in which the former champ took home a lopsided unanimous decision victory. Hoping the win would be enough to get him the rematch he desired, Dillashaw was confident he’d get the next crack at the belt, but instead the UFC would give his former Alpha Male teammate Cody Garbrandt a shot at the gold.
Now Dillashaw will compete against knockout artist John Lineker at UFC 207, the same card in which Cruz and Garbrandt will co-main event with their bantamweight title contest. During a recent interview with FOX Sports, Dillashaw shared his thoughts on the match-up between Cruz and Garbrandt, stating that the pairing is ‘bull sh*t’:
“Really it’s all just kind of bull (expletive),” Dillashaw said. “It makes no sense at all how they give the No. 8 guy, who skips over seven guys to get a title shot. It’s kind of whatever the UFC wants to do and they’re letting Dominick Cruz hand select his fights right now.
“They’ve built this up ever since Cody’s fight (with Thomas Almeida), they watched them talk crap about each other since May and built this whole thing up. They’re letting him pick the guys he wants to fight.”
When asked who is to blame for him being passed up for what he feels is his deserved rematch against Cruz, Dillashaw believes the blame is to share between the UFC and Cruz himself:
“It’s both but I know for sure Cruz doesn’t want to fight me. I know it 100-percent,” Dillashaw said. “Everything that I possibly did to hype up the fight to try and get it, he just wouldn’t acknowledge it, he wouldn’t talk to reporters about a rematch between me and him and he did everything possible not to even mention my name.
“That’s just an obvious sign that he doesn’t want to fight me. He knows I won that fight and he knows I’m going to be able to figure him out even better the second time and he’s going to do whatever he can to avoid me.”
Dillashaw believes that Cruz will attempt to retire from mixed martial arts (MMA) competition before granting him his rematch, and is baffled by the UFC’s insistence on keeping the rematch from happening:
“I truly believe he’s going to try and retire before he fights me again. That’s just my bet,” Dillashaw said. “It’s going to be ridiculous if that ends up happening. I don’t know what’s behind it for the UFC with Dominick Cruz cause it’s not like he’s an entertaining fighter. He’s good but he’s not one of those guys everyone’s waiting in line to watch. So I don’t understand that.
“When you look at my fights and my title defenses and the knockouts I’ve had and the exciting fights it doesn’t make sense they’re going to want someone like him other than Dominick Cruz is in the media and he’s on FOX all the time and maybe that helps out their brand. I have no idea.”
One aspect of the sport that Dillashaw isn’t too big a fan of is the transition of MMA becoming for entertainment that an actual sport. The former 135-pound king believes that the days of being rewarded for professionalism are over in the UFC:
“It doesn’t make sense but there’s definitely some politics behind it. I’m just not the kind of guy that’s going to go out of my way to be a (expletive) head and that’s what the UFC wants. They want these drama queens,” Dillashaw said. “They want guys that are going to act like they’re on “Days of Our Lives” and create a bunch of drama and turn this into a bunch of bull (expletive) rather than an actual sport.
“If you act like a professional and you do your job and act the way you should be, then you’re not going to get hyped up.”
Despite not having the title around his waist anymore, Dillashaw believes the differences in opponents between he and Cruz show who the real champion of the 135-pound division is:
“Dominick Cruz is going to keep selecting guys out of the top 10 while I keep fighting No. 1 contenders,” Dillashaw said. “I beat Raphael Assuncao, the No. 2 ranked fighter in the weight class while I’m ranked No. 1 and now I’m fighting John Lineker, the No. 2 ranked fighter in the weight class and I’m ranked No. 1.
“You tell me who’s the one acting like the champion, fighting the toughest guys, while Cruz will hand select top 10 guys.”
Dillashaw and Lineker will clash at UFC 207 in what is expected to be a pivotal bout in the 135-pound title picture, while Cruz and Garbrandt will clash in the co-main event of the card on pay-per-view (PPV), from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on December 30, 2016.
