Henry Cejudo’s teammate, Matt Schnell, says T.J. Dillashaw showed no respect to Cejudo at UFC Fight Night 143.
T.J. Dillashaw wasn’t exactly graceful in defeat to Henry Cejudo at UFC Fight Night 143.
The reigning bantamweight champion was stopped by a barrage of strikes in the opening round but thinks the referee should have allowed the fight to continue.
“This is not right. It’s complete bullsh-t. I’m completely effing bitter right now. I’m pretty pissed off. I worked my ass off, bro. I’m about to f—ng cry. I put in a lot of work,” an enraged Dillashaw said at the post-fight press conference.
Dillashaw’s emotional post-fight sentiments didn’t go down well with the MMA community, and American Top Team’s Matt Schnell, who helped Cejudo prepare for Dillashaw at UFC Brooklyn, says the champ’s poor attitude needs to be adjusted if he wants to be taken seriously.
“I think it’s really unbecoming,” Schnell told John Hyon Ko of The Body Lock in a recent interview.
“I want to give this guy the benefit of the doubt but yeah, it’s very unbecoming,” the UFC flyweight said. “He should hold himself to a higher standard. We all know what’s at risk when we walk in there. You win, you lose. I’ve lost to guys that I think I’m way better than, I’ve beaten guys that are way better than me.”
“It’s just how it works shapes out sometimes. If you’re a competitor, a true competitor, and not just a guy who likes to win, then you know how to deal with this.”
Schnell, who is set to lock horns with Louis Smolka next month at UFC on ESPN+ 4, says Dillashaw had ‘absolutely no respect’ for Cejudo or his fellow flyweights in the lead-up to UFC Fight Night 143.
“I also thought it was curious afterwards looking back, I don’t think TJ had one flyweight in his stable,” Schnell said. “Obviously, TJ had his fair share of things to say about the division, some insensitive things that I was somewhat outspoken about.”
“It was just interesting to see and I really felt like TJ came into this thing with absolutely no respect for Henry and definitely not for the division. And it showed through his actions in the build-up and looking back, how many flyweights was he training with? That was a mistake, maybe he’ll remedy that in the rematch. I would suggest it.”
Following the loss, Dillashaw has demanded an immediate rematch against Cejudo, and ‘The Messenger’ seems happy comply. This time, however, it will be on Cejudo’s terms. The reigning flyweight champion is willing to accept the rematch, provided that the fight is contested at TJ’s natural weight of 135-pounds.
As for Schnell, the former Legacy Fighting Alliance flyweight champ is making final preparations for Smolka. UFC Fight Night on ESPN+ 4, which will feature Smolka vs. Schnell on the prelims, takes place next month, March 9 at Intrust Bank Arena in Wichita, Kansas.