TJ Dillashaw believes Dominick Cruz would rather retire than fight him again
It broke TJ Dillashaw's heart to lose his bantamweight title to Dominick Cruz in January, but it may have been even harder to miss out on a rematch despite being the No. 1 ranked contender in the division for all of 2016.
Dillashaw dropped his belt to Cruz in a very closely contested five-round split decision earlier this year, but the former champion felt like the result was so controversial that there was no way he wouldn't earn a rematch in short order.
When the UFC opted for Cruz to settle his long time rivalry with Urijah Faber in June, Dillashaw wasn't happy but quickly moved onto face top five ranked fighter Raphael Assuncao in July, where he earned a lopsided decision. At that point, Dillashaw knew without a doubt he deserved the rematch but yet again he was passed over in favor of Cody Garbrandt, who now faces Cruz in the co-main event at UFC 207 on Dec. 30.
"Really it's all just kind of bull (expletive)," Dillashaw told FOX Sports about Cruz's next fight. "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."
Dillashaw acknowledges that the UFC deserves part of the blame for ultimately selecting Garbrandt as Cruz's next opponent, but he also puts the onus on the current bantamweight champion for never even contemplating a rematch with him after their first fight.
Instead, Dillashaw says Cruz has perpetuated this rivalry with Garbrandt, who is 5-0 in the UFC but without a single win over a top five opponent.
"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 is so strong in his belief that Cruz is avoiding him that he feels like the current champion will end up leaving the sport all together rather than face him for a second time.
"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."
Dillashaw feels like the made up rivalry between Cruz and Garbrandt was built on a foundation of trash talk rather than real skills.
As much as he wants another shot at Cruz to take back the bantamweight title, Dillashaw refuses to become a loudmouth spouting off threats and insults just to get a fight. He'll gladly speak his mind, but Dillashaw hates the unnecessary drama that has to surround a rivalry these days.
"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."
As much as Dillashaw is still boiling inside that Cruz is fighting at UFC 207 but not against him, he's willing to move forward with another matchup just to prove once again that he's truly the best bantamweight in the world.
So Dillashaw will face perennial knockout artist John Lineker on the same night just to showcase that he's still at the top of the division whether Cruz wants to fight him again or not.
"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."
