Dominick Cruz: ‘Weak-minded’ T.J. Dillashaw put on ‘sad display’ after Henry Cejudo loss

Dominick Cruz has never been one to hold back his opinion. And TJ. Dillashaw has been a frequent target of his for years.

Cruz, the former UFC bantamweight champion, blasted Dillashaw on the UFC Unfiltered podcast this week for Dillashaw’s complaints about the stoppage in his loss to Henry Cejudo at UFC Brooklyn last month.

Dillashaw, the UFC bantamweight champ, was moving down to try to win the flyweight belt from Cejudo. But Cejudo stopped Dillashaw by TKO in just 32 seconds. Dillashaw disputed the stoppage, saying it was early. He has continuously said that he will not accept the defeat, slamming referee Kevin MacDonald for calling it prematurely. Dillashaw was not unconscious and seemed to still have his faculties when MacDonald stepped in.

Cruz, though, believe his longtime rival should quit the talk and carry on.

“I look at this and say, is this how insignificantly stupid you are?” Cruz said. “To think you complaining and whining about a stoppage is gonna change anything? You just sound like a moron. Like, nothing is gonna change. You might as well just accept what just happened to you and try to grab a hold of your balls instead of run from them and admit the loss. Because you just got knocked out by a [125er]. And you dropped down to a weight class that dried out your brain and you might not have been as durable as you are at 135.”

That was likely one of the keys to the situation, Cruz said. Dillashaw was moving down from his natural 135-pound weight class to 125. Cruz believes the weight cut factored into Cejudo rocking Dillashaw in the opening seconds.

“There’s a reason why I never cut down to 125 and it’s not because I couldn’t make it,” Cruz said. “It’s because I knew at that level your brain, with the weight that I cut, it’s dried out and you’re not as durable. A huge part of cutting weight and fighting and coming back from the weight cut is how you do the cut. And the reason why that’s important is it helps your durability. And you have to be durable in these fights, because no matter who you are, you’re getting punched. Everybody gets punched. It’s just a matter of if it puts your lights out or not.

“Now, that’s what he’s saying. ‘Well, he didn’t put my lights out, it should have never have been stopped.’ OK, but did it get stopped? Yes. Why? Because the ref thought he had to save your life. You got kicked in the face, you got an overhand right and you were getting pounded from the top position. The guy was just trying to keep your safe, T.J. So, in the end, maybe don’t put yourself in that position by cutting so much weight.”

Despite the loss, Cruz believes Dillashaw will get a chance to avenge defeat against Cejudo — for Dillashaw’s 135-pound belt. That seems to be the fight the UFC is eyeing for later this year.

Meanwhile, Cruz, who beat Dillashaw for the bantamweight title in January 2016 before dropping to to Cody Garbrandt later that year, is recovering from shoulder surgery that forced him out of a potential fight with John Lineker.

“Let’s see what happens at 135,” Cruz said. “I’m sure that fight [between Dillashaw and Cejudo] is gonna happen. But it’s a sad display for me for the 135-pound division. It just showed what a weak-minded champion we have, in my personal opinion, to not admit defeat when it happens and just make a bunch of sorry excuses. It’s sad to me. He should just take it and move on, because he’s still got the belt. He’s still going to fight. He’s gonna get another shot. He’s not injured, he’s not hurt. So it’s like, what kind of example are you leaving for yourself and everybody else just crying and whining about nothing that can be changed?”