Raphael Assuncao is glad T.J. Dillashaw got humbled at UFC Brooklyn.
T.J. Dillashaw’s ambitions of becoming a two-division, and then a three-division champ, were crushed at UFC Brooklyn when he challenged Henry Cejudo for the flyweight title.
Dillashaw, the reigning bantamweight champion, was finished at just 0:32 of the opening round and is furious with the result.
To make matters worse, top bantamweight contender Raphael Assuncao said that Dillashaw deserved to lose in such devastating fashion, claiming that the 32-year-old should have continued to defend his 135-pound title rather than trying to emulate other two-division champs such as Conor McGregor, Daniel Cormier and Georges St-Pierre.
“Just like when I should’ve fought for the title before and Cody (Garbrandt) took my place, and it didn’t go well twice for him,” Assuncao told MMAjunkie.com in a recent interview. “In the back of my mind, I don’t want to be a hater, but it’s like, ‘See, that’s what you get.’ It should’ve been my turn. Same with T.J. That’s what you get when you should’ve defended your own title.”
Assuncao, who is 1-1 with Dillashaw, thinks the bantamweight titleholder needs to ‘get his stuff together’ and take responsibility for his own weight class.
“The champion needs to get his stuff together and defend his title,” Assuncao said. “Now they’re talking about a title defense against Cejudo, so that kind of complicates things a little bit. I think T.J. should’ve stayed at his weight and done what he was supposed to do at 135. He went down to 125, and now I’m sure he regrets what happened. He should’ve stayed at his weight class and taken responsibility at his weight class.”
Before there’s any talk of Dillashaw vs. Assuncao III, Assuncao will have to get past Marlon Moraes, who he will meet this Saturday, Feb. 2 in the UFC Fight Night 144 main event at Centro de Formação Olímpica do Nordeste in Fortaleza, Brazil.