After regaining the UFC Bantamweight Championship from TJ Dillashaw at the UFC Fight Night 81 event on Sunday, Dominick Cruz took a shot at his fellow FOX Sports analyst Kenny Florian, who was suspended over the weekend for plagiarism.
“Kenny Florian, stop copying and pasting, man.”
Cruz explained his comment later in the evening during the official post-fight show. The new UFC Bantamweight Champion offered the following explanation regarding his “copying and pasting” comment.
“I gave Kenny a little bit of a tough time, but I love that guy. He’s got a good brain for the sport. I was just throwing a little jab at him, because he’s my friend and it was funny. But nothing but respect for Kenny, because he is a good guy.”
He continued, explaining that the motivation behind the comment was Florian picking Dillashaw when giving his predictions prior to the fight on Sunday night.
“It was friendly fire. I like Kenny. He didn’t pick me in the fight. He gave me really no chance in this fight, so it was just a little poke. Nothing big. He’s got great hair.”
On his podcast on Tuesday, Florian revealed the fact that he had spoken to Cruz after he made the comments, and that Cruz had apologized for taking a shot at him during his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan.
“I talked to Dominick and he apologized to me,” Florian said. “He said his emotions were running high and I get it. When I was fighting, you get emotional and you almost take it personally. Dominick is such a competitive dude that he took it personal.
“I picked T.J. and the only reason I picked T.J. was, yes, not only is he a great fighter, but Dominick hadn’t competed in so long. With all the injuries, that’s why I went with Dillashaw.”
“KenFlo” continued, explaining that picking fights is his least favorite thing to do, but he has to because it’s part of the job.
“It was nothing personal and that’s why I hate working with some of these guys because you do become very friendly,” Florian said. “You respect guys and how could you not respect someone like Dominick Cruz? I also had worked with T.J. a bunch of times, as well, so that’s what makes this sport tough.
“Picking fights is probably my least favorite thing to do. You don’t want to offend anyone and I’m sure Dominick was probably offended by that but listen, the best revenge is getting the win and that’s exactly what he did.”
