T.J. Dillashaw believes Dominick Cruz feels entitled.
Dillashaw recently retained his Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) bantamweight title in a rematch against Cody Garbrandt at UFC 227. Dillashaw ended up scoring a first-round TKO over “No Love.” With the victory, many are wondering who will be Dillashaw’s next challenger.
T.J. Dillashaw: Dominick Cruz Feels Entitled to Title Fight
There’s a bit of a history between Dillashaw and Cruz. “The Dominator” defeated Dillashaw back in Jan. 2016 via split decision to recapture the bantamweight title. Fast forward past the halfway point of 2018 and Dillashaw says he holds all the cards. During a recent appearance on Showtime’s “Below the Belt” podcast, he told Brendan Schaub that Cruz feels entitled (via MMANYTT.com):
“The one thing I have against Cruz is that he feels entitled to this rematch, he feels entitled to this title fight. You haven’t been active. If you had been active, sure you deserve the title match. But you want to be sidelined for two years saying that you’re ‘injured’ and then all of a sudden I’m looking for a contender and you want to be like ‘I’m ready’. You just want to pass murderer’s row up, you don’t want to have to challenge yourself whatsoever. To me it’s a little p–sy move.”
There are three bantamweights many deem worthy of the next title opportunity. Cruz has only lost to Garbrandt inside the Octagon, meanwhile Raphael Assuncao is on a four-fight winning streak and has gone 11-1 in his last 12 outings. There’s also Marlon Moraes, who is coming off a 33-second knockout victory over Jimmie Rivera.
The wildcard in all of this is newly crowned flyweight champion Henry Cejudo. After his upset split decision victory over Demetrious Johnson, Cejudo said he’s willing to move up in weight class to take on Dillashaw.
Who is most deserving of the next UFC bantamweight title shot?
