Marlon Moraes wants TJ Dillashaw to defend or vacate.
Current UFC bantamweight champ Dillashaw comes fresh off a successful 135-pound title defense. He knocked out rival Cody Garbrandt in the first round of their UFC 227 main event meeting in Los Angeles earlier this month.
Prior to that bout, former Olympic gold medalist Henry Cejudo dethroned Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson from the 125-pound throne. Cejudo subsequently called out the winner of Dillashaw vs. Garbrandt for a superfight.
Dillashaw has since expressed interest in fighting Cejudo if the opportunity presents itself. This is something that has upset No. 4-ranked bantamweight Marlon Moraes. The Brazilian is on a three-fight winning streak since November.
His last two wins have come by way of knockout early in the first round. Moraes’ last outing really impressed the mixed martial arts (MMA) community. He handed Jimmie Rivera his first defeat in nearly a decade with a 33-second head kick knockout.
Moraes feels as though a bantamweight title shot is warranted after his recent run. Speaking on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show recently, Moraes said he feels as though Dillashaw and coach Duane Ludwig are ducking him (quotes via MMA Mania):
“Yes man, 100-percent,” Moraes said. “But the situation now is kind of getting crazy becasue Dillashaw and Duane Ludwig, they are calling the shots now. They want to match me up with Dominick Cruz, other guys. Why, man? Stop matching me up and just fight me.”
With that being said, Moraes isn’t opposed to fighting a Dominick Cruz instead of Dillashaw. But if the 135-pound champ wants to drop down and fight Henry Cejudo, Moraes wants Dillashaw to vacate the title. This would allow him and Cruz to fight for the 135-pound crown:
“I feel like he (Cruz) had a long layoff. I agree with him, he is one of the best ever. But we got to see how he is now. Make a comeback, fight somebody else to see where he’s at,” he said.
“If T.J. goes down and vacates the belt, I would be more than welcome to that opportunity. It’s going to be an honor for me to fight such a great fighter like Dominick Cruz.
“I saw last week he said guys don’t talk about him, but I always talk about him. He is one of the best and I always look up to him,” he added. “The day I have to fight him, I am going to be down for it.”
Moraes continued on to assert his belief he deserves the title shot:
“I have no idea what UFC wants, but I am going to be down and I won’t say no. I just think I deserve the chance and I deserve to fight this guy. If he wants to be the best he has to fights the best and I think I’m at the top now,” he said.
“I’m waiting man, I am waiting for the opportunity. They know I’m down for fights and I want to fight. I want to work and I want to fight for the title. Let’ see if they can put all that together.”
Finally, Moraes said he would fight former champion Dominick Cruz if Dillashaw didn’t want to defend the belt:
“I think so, especially now that T.J. wants to do anything but not defend the belt. I want to fight, Dominick said he wants to fight. If he (Dillashaw) don’t want to fight, vacate and let us fight.”
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