Dillashaw Shuts Down ‘Jealous’ Cruz

Former UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz was not impressed with the promotion’s matchmaking upon learning that TJ Dillashaw will be getting a 135-pound title shot after defeating Cory Sandhagen at UFC Vegas 32 back in summer 2021.

Probably because Dillashaw was forced to surrender his strap after testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs, a two-year-time out that left the division in shambles. Or maybe he’s just a “salty cunt” who is bitter about his own shortcomings at 135 pounds.

“He sounds like a salty cunt, to be honest,” Dillashaw told Submission Radio. “I just think he’s obviously jealous of me being able to stay in the top, you know, my layoff and how long I’ve been in the sport and me still be able to come back and prove that I’m still the best. And I did lose money, right? Me not fighting for two years while being a champion is a lot of money out of my pocket. [If I had] kept racking in the wins, getting title defenses, I mean, we’re talking about millions and millions of dollars that I let slip through my fingers because I made a fucking stupid mistake. So yeah, I paid my time, I came back and fucking grinded to get that win on fucking one leg and one eye, and there’s nothing you can do to deny me that it’s my shot.”

Dillashaw and Cruz — both 36 — went to war in the UFC Fight Night 81 main event back in early 2016, with “The Dominator” prevailing by way of close split decision. That said, Dillashaw does not expect a second go-round now that Cruz has dropped out of the Top 5.

“Like I said, he’s just being salty, and that’s kind of his personality anyways,” Dillashaw continued. “He’s kind of an unlikable dude. I mean, I’ve always respected him and I think he’s got a good eye for stuff, but he’s got like this chip on his shoulder where he feels like everything’s owed to him, and he’s just like always complaining about shit. It’s just his personality, and of course he’s gonna say that. But it’s because he’ll never get there again. I don’t think he’ll ever have a shot to get the belt back. And that probably bothers him, because at one time he was the best.”

The division is slowly starting to work itself out but there’s still no word yet on when Dillashaw is expected to battle current bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling; however, you can expect that decision to come sooner, rather than later.