Back when fallen MMA champions like Ronda Rousey, Cain Velasquez, and Chris Weidman got an immediate rematches after their respective title losses, T.J. Dillashaw is has to convince the executives to give him a second chance at fighting Dominick Cruz for the title that he lost.
Dominick Cruz won over T.J. Dillashaw by a split decision last January 17th in Boston, Massachusetts where the MMA fight was held. Prior to the fight, Cruz has widely expressed his desire to fight longtime rival Urijah Faber.
“When you’re the champion you don’t have to talk s**t to push your way up to get that fight. There’s going to be plenty of guys talking their mouth off and making some drama to make it entertaining for them to get that title shot. Unfortunately, that’s the way the UFC is going to work. It’s all about money and promotion and entertaining. When you’re the champion, you don’t have to do that. Numbers are everything when it comes to this promotion. It’s not about who actually deserves the rematch. It’s all about the storyline and the drama behind it,” Dillashaw said during a recent interview with Submission Radio.
Both Faber and Dillashaw have been throwing shots at each for a couple months now because of the former MMA bantamweight champ’s exit from Team Alpha Male. Now that Faber is probably going to interfere with Dillashaw’s plan to get back inside the cage with Cruz, he isn’t going to hold back his thoughts about the issue just so he can put his case out there for the UFC execs to take notice.
“No, he doesn’t deserve it. He’s got a name behind him but his last performances? There’s no way he should deserve a title fight. Just because he and Cruz have beef? It doesn’t make sense. I’m the No. 1 contender. I felt I won that fight [with Cruz.] I think I’m the only UFC champ to lose his belt to a split decision. I don’t feel like Urijah’s done enough to get that fight. Obviously he’s going to try to talk his way into that fight but I don’t think he deserves it. The way he’s looked? The guy is a dinosaur. He hasn’t been looking very good. I feel like he’s going downhill,” Dillashaw said.
Faber’s only other loss aside from being knocked out by former MMA bantamweight champion Renan Barao back in 2013 was against Frankie Edgar.The fight ended in a unanimous decision after five rounds.
“Prime? No way. He’s good. Don’t get me wrong. The guy is awesome and I have a lot of respect for him, but I don’t think he’s been looking as good as he used to. He’s slowing down and not dominating guys. He had a tough fight with Francisco Rivera until he poked him in the eye. He didn’t look good against Alex Caceres until he choked him. He just beat the No. 13 guy in a very close fight and was gassed out in the process. I just don’t think he’s looked as dominant as he has in the past. He was a better fighter four years ago. He’s 37 years old. That’s old. I don’t want to be fighting when I’m 37 years old,” Dillashaw said.