T.J. Dillashaw Says UFC Pushed Hard For Cody Garbrandt’s Immediate Rematch
UFC Bantamweight Champion TJ Dillashaw continues to talk about his ugliest rivalry with Cody Garbrandt.
T.J. Dillashaw campaigned so hard to get a showdown with Demetrious Johnson, but promotion was so keen to book an immediate rematch with former champion Cody Garbrandt. TJ Dillashaw without any hesitant accepted the fight and did it again in the main event of UFC 227 knocked out nemesis Cody Garbrandt via first-round knockout to cemented himself the best pound-for-pound.
Dillashaw also breaks down the mistakes that Garbrandt made in their second encounter in the Octagon from Los Angeles. In their first outing at UFC 217 where Dillashaw finished ‘No Love’ to score back the bantamweight title.
Dillashaw said he has no issue to cash another paycheck to knock out his formal rival Cody Garbrandt. He did it twice and will do it again if UFC asks him to do it.
Dillashaw claimed that UFC pushed hard for Cody Garbrandt to be the bantamweight champion again, but ‘The Viper’ ruin their intentions.
“We agreed to [a fight with Demetrious Johnson] but then he had to get shoulder surgery and so the UFC was like, ‘We don’t know how long he’s gonna be out, we want you to fight Cody,’” Dillashaw said on the latest edition of Brendan Schaub’s Below the Belt, per MMA Fighting’s Jed Meshew. “I’m still waiting for a phone call right now from my manager saying, ‘Man, the UFC wants you to fight Cody again. They think it was a fluke.’ [Laughs]. You know what I mean?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAJcS9MsLLk
“I’m just kidding. The UFC’s put so much money and time into that kid, they loved him. They were hard for that kid. They wanted to pump him up. Even the Embeddeds coming up to this fight – I’m the world f**king champion and it’s about him! Dude, it’s f**king ridiculous. I’m just waiting for this phone call saying, ‘They want you to fight Cody again.’ Sweet! Pay me some more money, I’ll knock his ass out again.”
Now Cody Garbrant in the back seat, Dillashaw is open to rematch Dominick Cruz, but ‘The Viper’ wants ‘The Dominator’ to take up few wins to prove his worth before they face inside the Octagon. Cruz already beat Dillashaw via controversial split decision back at in 2016 at UFC Fight Night 81.
“The one thing I have against Cruz is he feels entitled,” Dillashaw said. “He feels entitled to this rematch. You haven’t been active. If you’ve been active, sure you deserve the title match. But you want to be sidelined for two years saying you’re ‘injured’ [makes quotations with his fingers] and then all of a sudden I’m looking for a contender and you’re like, ‘Oh, I’m ready.’ You just want to pass murderers row up. You don’t want to challenge yourself whatsoever. To me it’s a little p*ssy move. ‘Oh, I’m hurt.’ Sure, maybe you were hurt but go out there and prove yourself. Go out there and beat Marlon Moraes and let’s do this dance.”
Cruz cleared his intentions that he’ll be returning to Octagon by the end of this year and made his case to get a crack at the title, including Henry Cejudo. But all the decision comes from UFC, so Cruz rematch makes sense sooner the batter so they can jam ‘No Love’ back into the title picture.
