Former bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw has labelled Dominick Curz a “one-trick pony” ahead of his UFC 249 title fight against Henry Cejudo.
The co-main event this weekend will feature two men who hold wins over Dillashaw. Cruz edged Dillashaw to reclaim the 135lb belt in January 2016. Cejudo stopped the TUF veteran in just 32 seconds at UFC Brooklyn in January 2019. Dillashaw has since been banned from the sport for doping and won’t be able to fight again until early next year.
Speaking to Sirius XM ahead of the UFC 249 clash between two former opponents Dillashaw had some pretty harsh words for ‘The Dominator’, he said.
“Cruz doesn’t really switch up his gameplan though, he’s kind of a one-trick pony. Even though he’s got all this crazy movement, these angles and stuff, he still is a one-trick pony. He can’t really change up, he can’t be like ‘I’m getting beat up on my feet, I better take this guy down and use jiu-jitsu.’ He doesn’t have that. Cody Garbrandt, he needed to knock him out, there was no way he was going to beat him, but he can’t do that. He doesn’t have knockout power. It’s not like Cruz can really change it, it’s more of a fact of it’s just hard to figure out.”
“He doesn’t fight like anybody else. You can’t bring someone in and be like hey will you fight me like Dominick Cruz? He’s got a good gameplan from the beginning and he sticks to it and he gets you to play his game, he gets you to chase him, and he takes advantage of it. I think the biggest X-factor is the distance and his control of it.”
Dillashaw admitted he was excited to watch the bantamweight title fight tomorrow night but stopped short of offering any type of prediction.
“We’ll see, man,” he said. “It’s definitely an interesting fight, I’m intrigued by it.” (Transcribed by BJPenn.com)
@TJDillashaw talks to @RJcliffordMMA & @jimmysmithmma about Dominick Cruz's lack of ability to make in-cage adjustments, and reveals one way Cruz helped him in his career.
— MMA on SiriusXM (@MMAonSiriusXM) May 8, 2020
Do you agree with TJ Dillashaw? Is Dominick Cruz a one-trick pony?