TJ Dillashaw: ‘This Fight Needs To Happen Again, At Flyweight.’
Last night (Sat., Jan. 19, 2018) from inside the Barclays center Brooklyn Henry Cejudo surprised the MMA world when he dismantled UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw in just 32 seconds of the first round to retain his flyweight belt.
Cejudo dropped Dillashaw to the canvas and then clipped him with a right hand behind the ear. TJ scrambled, and here you go Henry Cejudo unleashed flurries of punches until the referee stepped in to stop the action.
Dillashaw felt the fight was stopped far too early by referee Kevin MacDonald and demands an immediate rematch at flyweight. Even UFC head honcho Dana White called UFC Brooklyn main event stoppage ‘horrible.’ (h/t MMAJunkie)
“Sucks to have it stolen from you,” Dillashaw, responding to MMAjunkie, told reporters at the post-fight news conference. “I worked my butt off. It would be nice to actually get the chance to show it. It’s a title fight. It’s a champ-vs.-champ fight, and you’re going to stop the fight like that? I’m in on a single leg. (The referee) said, ‘Hey, show me something.’ I said, ‘OK.’ I’m on a single leg in a scramble, (Cejudo) stops punching, he’s defending a single leg, and (the referee’s) going to stop the fight? It’s just ridiculous. It’s pretty pathetic that I have better knowledge (than the referee).”
Dillashaw says the way Cejudo fight stopped it’s something he’s not happy about it. Bantamweight champion says he’s glad to accept the defeat if it’s legitimate, but according to him, he didn’t lose the fight that’s a bad call from the referee. At UFC on ESPN+1 post-fight presser, Cejudo agreed to run again with Dillashaw at bantamweight in a hope to become a double champ-champ. But it seems like TJ still has some unfinished business at flyweight.
“If I’m going to lose, I want to lose,” Dillashaw said. “I want to lose if I’m going to lose. Look, congratulations, Henry Cejudo. Awesome. Great job, man. But you did not win. You did not win this fight. I am happy to accept defeat, but I did not lose. I was more rocked in the first Cody (Garbrandt) fight than that fight. I got clipped, hardly clipped behind the ear, and a grown man is going to be shoving you. Of course you’re going to be in a scramble. A grown-ass man is on top of me. …
“As you can tell, I’m a little frustrated. This (expletive) needs to happen again, at flyweight. This is bullshit. I worked my ass off 12 weeks to get here. To have it stolen from me in 30 seconds. You guys can see the fire. I’ll (expletive) fight tomorrow.”
Who wants to see Dillashaw vs. Cejudo immediate rematch? Do you agree with TJ Dillashaw’s comment that the fight stopped too early?
