T.J. Dillashaw may no longer be allowed to step foot inside Urijah Faber’s Team Alpha Male in Sacramento California, however that won’t stop him from cheering for former mentor Urijah Faber when ‘The California Kid’ steps foot in the Octagon at UFC 199 to fight Dominick Cruz for the bantamweight championship.
The fight will be Faber’s 4th bid for the UFC bantamweight championship, and will be his third fight with Cruz. In the pair’s first meeting back at WEC 26, Faber defeated Cruz via 1st round submission. When the pair met for the second time it was under the UFC banner at UFC 132, where Cruz defeated Faber via unanimous decision.
The way former UFC bantamweight champion T.J. Dillashaw sees it, he and Faber may not be on the best of terms, but he still likes Faber more than Cruz.
He spoke about why the UFC gave Faber the title shot, rather than giving him a rematch, as well as why he will be rooting for Faber.
He spoke to The Sun
“The only thing I can think of is they want to have Faber to get another title shot. He’s got a big following behind him, he’s got a lot of fans.
“And they can’t give him someone else and expect him to win, because he hasn’t looked that great to be able to continue to push for a title. I think this is his shot.
“This is kinda like his last hurrah in my mind to be able to get a title shot, because they can’t trust him to beat someone else down the ladder because he might not win that fight. I just feel I’m a little more deserving of it. That fight with Cruz was super-close.”
He continued:
“I’ve gotta be happy for Urijah, I’ve had a friendship with the guy. It’s a cool story.
“What if he goes out and beats Cruz, then he finally gets his belt? It’s his eighth title shot or something like that. It’d be a cool way for him to finish his career in the UFC.
“I’m going to root for him against Cruz. I like him more. Even though there’s this drama going on and all the bullc**p that’s been blown out of the water between me and him, I still hope he wins the fight.
“I like him a lot more than I like Cruz. Cruz is not very respectful and kind of a d**k.