Earlier last month it was announced that longtime bantamweight king Dominick Cruz’s next challenger inside the Octagon would come in the form of the heavy-handed Cody ‘No Love’ Garbrandt.
Garbrandt is currently undefeated in his mixed martial arts (MMA) career finishing all but one of his bouts via knockout, with his most recent victory coming via R1 knockout over Takeya Mizugaki.
Cruz is one of the most dominant champions in UFC history, having lost only one bout in his MMA career in his WEC debut against Urijah Faber in 2007. Cruz faced a slew of injuries that kept him outside of the cage, forcing him to vacate his bantamweight crown, helplessly watching former Team Alpha Male member TJ Dillashaw run the 135-pound show from the sidelines in the process.
‘The Dominator’ finally healed up enough to do battle with Dillashaw for the title, where Cruz took home a split decision victory in a razor close battle of technical skills. Since that fight each man has faced different foes inside the Octagon, with Dillashaw easily out-classing Raphael Assuncao in their three round contest at UFC 200; and Cruz doing the same to longtime rival Urijah Faber in the co-main event of UFC 199.
With both men coming off dominant wins it seemed as though you could all but pencil in Cruz vs. Dillashaw II for the next bantamweight title clash, but with the bad blood steadily beginning to boil between Cruz and Garbrandt over the past few months, the UFC decided to go a different route.
Understandably the news didn’t sit too well with Dillashaw, who spoke to FanSided after news broke, and called the UFC’s latest bantamweight title match pairing a ‘mockery’ of the sport:
“It’s a mockery – it’s a mockery of the sport. The sport should be about the best guys on the planet (fighting each other). What’s the point of having rankings (if they don’t factor into matchups)?” Dillashaw said.
Dillashaw’s coach Duane ‘Bang’ Ludwig also voiced his displeasure with his fighter being side-stepped for what believes is rightfully his title opportunity, during a recent interview on BJ Penn.com Radio, stating that he believes Cruz’s decision to take on Garbrandt instead of Dillashaw means he doesn’t want to fight the Elevation Fight Team member:
“We’re really bummed out because it basically just proves the fact that Cruz doesn’t want to fight TJ,” Ludwig said. “I mean TJ fought Raphael Assuncao, the number two ranked guy, and it wasn’t an easy fight, but he went through him pretty easily. He stuck to the game plan.”
“We beat the number two (ranked) guy, on paper we should have gotten the immediate rematch after the Cruz fight (given how close the fight was), but we go and beat the number two guy, we should have gotten the rematch (with Cruz), so now we’re asking to fight (John) Lineker who’s the number three guy to continue to prove the fact that TJ is a world champion.”
Ludwig also believes that the decision speaks volumes about the new UFC owner Ari Emmanuel, who ‘Bang’ accuses of being a big fan of Cruz:
“I haven’t even met the new owner, Ari (Emmanuel), but he must be a Cruz fan for sure. I mean look at the fights they’re giving him. They must really love Cruz.”
With Cruz now being booked against Garbrandt, it should be interesting to see if Dillashaw will take center Octagon once again before competing for the title once more, or if he will simply rest and observe who emerges victorious from the 135-pound title bout at UFC 207 in December.
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