Cody Garbrandt hasn’t been quiet since he stole the UFC bantamweight title from Dominick Cruz in late December.
In the moments after his bantamweight title win, Garbrandt surprised by suggesting he’d like to give Cruz an immediate rematch. Shortly thereafter, he made waves by telling MMA reporter Ariel Helwani that he was interested in a “money fight” with reigning UFC featherweight champ Jose Aldo. Both of these ideas, not surprisingly, drew the ire of TJ Dillashaw, a former bantamweight champion who currently holds the division’s number one contender spot.
More recently, Garbrandt seems to have let go of the idea of a fight with Jose Aldo. He is, however, still keen on the idea of a do-over with Dominick Cruz. On Friday afternoon, the new champ took to Twitter to attempt to goad the former champ into a rematch, explaining that if Cruz truly wasn’t down, he would concede and cut the head off the “snake” TJ Dillashaw.
See the Tweet below.
https://twitter.com/Cody_Nolove/status/819724312332685312
Garbrandt’s focus on fights with the likes of Aldo and Cruz has led Dillashaw to the opinion that he’s being avoided.
“For him, fighting Aldo would be a win, because he can fight a top guy and not have to put his belt on the line against me,” Dillashaw said on Chael Sonnen’s You’re Welcome podcast. “He knows putting [the belt] on the line against me is a very tough fight. We’ve practiced a lot together, and he knows how good of a fighter I am. He knows he doesn’t want that fight, so what can you do?”
Garbrandt currently owns a perfect, 11-0 record, including triumphs over Thomas Almeida, Takeya Mizugaki and Dominick Cruz. Cruz, meanwhile, is 22-2 overall. His loss to Garbrandt was his first in almost a decade. Dillashaw, finally, is 14-3 in sum. Since surrendering the title to Cruz last January, he has rebounded with decision defeats of Raphael Assuncao and John Lineker.
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This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 13/1/2017.