T.J. Dillashaw believes he will cement his legacy as the best bantamweight of all-time with a second win over Cody Garbrandt at UFC 227.
Most fans consider Dominick Cruz the greatest bantamweight of all-time, but two-time champion T.J. Dillashaw plans to steal Cruz’ thunder at UFC 227.
Dillashaw, who holds dominant championship wins over the likes of Renan Barao and Cody Garbrandt, believes he will surge to the top of the rankings with a second win over ‘No Love’ next month.
“It puts me at the top [of the list as the all-time greatest bantamweight]. I know I’m the best bantamweight ever,” Dillashaw told Luke Thomas on Monday’s edition The MMA Hour, per MMA Fighting’s Peter Carroll. “I’ve got a split decision loss to Dominick Cruz and that changed everything, a fight that I thought I won. That changed everything, but I am the best bantamweight in the world.”
After taking care of business at UFC 227, Dillashaw wants to climb the pound-for-pound list and stake his claim as the best fighter to ever step into the Octagon. Period.
“I get to continue to grow my legacy,” he said. “Then I’ll move onto the next challenge and continue to be the best pound-for-pound fighter that I possibly can be.”
Although Dillashaw does have a loss to Cruz, the 32-year-old doesn’t think he has to prove himself in a rematch.
“I don’t think so,” Dillashaw replied when asked if he felt he needed to avenge his loss to ‘The Dominator’.
“My performances speak for themselves. We’ve got to see if Dominick Cruz can even fight. The guy can’t even get in there anymore, so we’ll see if it comes up, but right now I’ve just got to worry about knocking Cody out in three weeks.”
Dillashaw KO’d Garbrandt in the second round of their co-headlining championship bout at UFC 217 and is determined to shut his ex-teammate up for good with another knockout win at UFC 227.
“I don’t mind if [the fight is] going to be different,” Dillashaw said. “I’m just going to go out there and make Cody irrelevant at the weight class. I’m going to go out and finish him. He’s got no chin, he doesn’t have any technique and I think I’m going to prove to everybody in the weight class that he doesn’t belong in the top 10.”
The highly anticipated pay-per-view takes place next month, August 4 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.