UFC Bantamweight Champion TJ Dillashaw continues to talk about his heated rivalry with former champ Cody Garbrandt.
Dillashaw scored a first round KO victory over Garbrandt in the main event of UFC 227 pay-per-view event at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, to break down the mistakes that the former champion made in their second meeting inside of the Octagon. The finish of the fight at UFC 227 saw Dillashaw land ferocious flurry in the first round following dropping Garbrandt at first with a right hook.
If you recall, their first fight went down at the UFC 217 pay-per-view event at Madison Square Garden in New York City in November where Dillashaw finished Garbrandt to win back the bantamweight title.
In a recent interview, Dillashaw went on record by stating that Garbrandt got the rematch because the UFC was invested in the former champion and pushed hard for the fight to happen.
“We agreed to [a fight with Demetrious Johnson] but then he had to get shoulder surgery and so the UFC was like, ‘We don’t know how long he’s gonna be out, we want you to fight Cody,’” Dillashaw said on the latest edition of Brendan Schaub’s Below the Belt (transcript courtesy of MMAFighting). “I’m still waiting for a phone call right now from my manager saying, ‘Man, the UFC wants you to fight Cody again. They think it was a fluke.’ [Laughs]. You know what I mean?
“I’m just kidding. The UFC’s put so much money and time into that kid, they loved him. They were hard for that kid. They wanted to pump him up. Even the Embeddeds coming up to this fight – I’m the world f**king champion and it’s about him! Dude, it’s f**king ridiculous. I’m just waiting for this phone call saying, ‘They want you to fight Cody again.’ Sweet! Pay me some more money, I’ll knock his ass out again.”
“The one thing I have against Cruz is he feels entitled,” Dillashaw said. “He feels entitled to this rematch. You haven’t been active. If you’ve been active, sure you deserve the title match. But you want to be sidelined for two years saying you’re ‘injured’ [makes quotations with his fingers] and then all of a sudden I’m looking for a contender and you’re like, ‘Oh, I’m ready.’ You just want to pass murderers row up. You don’t want to challenge yourself whatsoever. To me it’s a little p*ssy move. ‘Oh, I’m hurt.’ Sure, maybe you were hurt but go out there and prove yourself. Go out there and beat Marlon Moraes and let’s do this dance.”
