Urijah Faber Eyes Trilogy Bout, Cruz Shakes It Off
UFC Fight Night 81 is in the books as the event went down last night (January 17, 2015) live on FOX Sports 1 from the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts.
The main event featured a highly anticipated and long awaited bantamweight title fight between TJ Dillashaw and Dominick “The Dominator” Cruz.
After competing just once over the last few years, and going through multiple surgeries, Cruz rose to the occasion, regaining the title he had never actually lost with a close fought decision victory over Dillashaw.
Despite the MMA community’s highly regarded interest in the bout, one fighter in particular had his eyes closely fixed on the clash and that would be former WEC champion Urijah Faber.
After losing all three of his UFC title shots, “The California Kid” had the perfect opportunity in front of him. A fight with Dillashaw would be massive given the now former champion’s departure from Faber’s Team Alpha Male. And if Cruz ended up on top which he did, the UFC could finally book Cruz vs. Faber III, a trilogy bout between bitter rivals.
In the after math of the event, Faber was quick to call out “The Dominator”:
“Cruz, you have got to give it to him. What a journey he has been on,” Faber told Fox Sports on the post-fight show. “He’s a real champion, he’s a true champion, he’s only lost to one team, that’s Team Alpha Male. He’s only lost to one guy, that’s me.”
“And I feel like I beat him the second time also. I connected to his chin. I know he feels like he’s hard to hit. I found his chin, his butt found the ground, and I’m going to make that happen again. So let’s do it, Dom! this has been a long time coming.”
“I’ve been sticking around a couple extra years just to let you heal up buddy! You’re not made for battle. Thank goodness you made it out this thing, hopefully alive, hopefully, the foot’s okay. Let’s do this!”
Although it would undoubtedly be a huge fight, the newly crowned champion didn’t seem all the interested in mixing it up with his old foe again:
“I don’t even want to talk about that guy. We’re still talking about him?” Cruz responded. “How many title shots has he had?”
Who should Cruz defend his title against next?
