Dominick Cruz isn’t particularly fond of T.J. Dillashaw or Cody Garbrandt, but the bantamweight champion will defend his title against ‘No Love’ at UFC 207.
Garbrandt, 10-0, was gifted the title shot despite being the lower-ranked fighter. TJ, who lost the belt to Cruz in January, is listed as the official No. 1 contender but ’The Dominator’ believes the UFC made a smart business decision in booking Garbrandt instead.
According to Cruz, the UFC selected Garbrandt as the next title contender because he’s an ‘emotional wreck’, where as Dillashaw is just ‘fake’.
“The new owners of the UFC, they’re a management company, they deal with high, elite-level stars, and if you really look at the background of the people who just spent $4.2 billion on the UFC, they’re going to make specific decisions according to making the business better,” Cruz told MMAjunkie. “Dillashaw, in my opinion, doesn’t make the business better. Cody, with the emotional wreck that he is, people can grasp to that because they see the emotion in him, they see what he’s thinking, they see what he’s feeling. He lets it all out. Dillashaw is fake. Everything Dillashaw does is a lie. He can’t let his true self out.”
Despite wearing his emotions on his sleeve, Garbrandt’s undefeated record and KO streak is the more likely reason for his title shot.
The 25-year-old is one of the most exciting fighters in the 135 lbs division and has developed a reputation as a knockout artist. His last three fights have all ended via first-round stoppage and the Team Alpha Male product has used his time in the spotlight to repeatedly call out the current champion.
Cruz vs. Garbrandt will feature as the co-main event for UFC 207, the pay-per-view which sees Ronda Rousey return to the Octagon against current women’s bantamweight champ, Amanda Nunes. The event takes place on Dec. 30 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
