It’s no secret T.J. Dillashaw and his camp want a fight against current Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Demetrious Johnson to prove he is indeed the best mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter in the game today.
Talks, though, have cooled off a bit according to “Mighty Mouse” himself, who is still rehabbing from recent shoulder surgery. And though Duane Ludwig — T.J.’s head trainer — isn’t a part of the fight negotiations, he seems to think financial details are holding up the bout.
“[The] holdup is probably dates and money, I’m assuming,” Ludwig said on the latest episode of BJ Penn Radio via BJPenn.com.“I really don’t know what the hold up is, because I’m not in on those meetings and I don’t really want to be. I have focused my efforts on the actual martial arts aspect, of improving TJ and his martial arts in general. I’m teaching him and finding out, again, what actually works. But the business side, I try to let them figure that out on their own.”
Indeed, both parties have gone on record saying they want to get paid handsomely in order to make the fight. Whether or not UFC and Endeavor want to fork over the cash is another story.
Should the the fight not see the light of day, Ludwig would like to see his pupil get a rematch with former Bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz.
“What’s Cruz’s situation, now?,” Ludwig queried on the show. “For me, personally, I would like to see that [rematch]. So Demetrious, and then – or – Cruz,” he concluded.
Dominick narrowly defeated Dillashaw via split decision back in 2016 to win back his 135-pound title. Cruz ultimately lost the strap to Cody Garbrandt, who ultimately coughed it up to T.J. at UFC 217 last November. And now we’ve come full circle, as the Dillashaw camp is keen on getting one back from “The Dominator.”
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