TJ Dillashaw shuts down Dominick Cruz’s calls for a title shot

One of the frontrunners for the next crack at UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw is former champion Dominick Cruz.

In Dillashaw’s eyes, however, Cruz doesn’t deserve this opportunity, as he hasn’t fought since his 2016 loss to Cody Garbrandt, which marked the end of his title reign.

“The one thing I have against Cruz is that he feels entitled to this rematch, he feels entitled to this title fight,” Dillashaw said when speaking to the ‘Below the Belt’ podcast (transcribed by Damon Martin for MMANytt). “You haven’t been active. If you had been active, sure you deserve the title match. But you want to be sidelined for two years saying that you’re ‘injured’ and then all of a sudden I’m looking for a contender and you want to be like ‘I’m ready’.

“You just want to pass murderer’s row up, you don’t want to have to challenge yourself whatsoever. To me it’s a little p–sy move.”

https://youtu.be/WAJcS9MsLLk

TJ Dillashaw continued:

“Sure maybe you were hurt but get out there and prove yourself,” he said to Cruz. “Get out there and beat Marlon Moraes and let’s do this dance. He hasn’t proved himself at all. Two years, he lost his belt, hasn’t fought in two years, been sidelined, and now he just wants to pop up and be relevant and feels like he has this entitlement. Makes zero sense to me.

“I have more finishes in the UFC than he has wins. Talk about who’s the greatest of all time in our weight class. I have more finishes than you have wins in the UFC.”

Does a rematch between Dominick Cruz and TJ Dillashaw interest you?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 8/9/2018.