UFC bantamweight Dominick Cruz slammed TJ Dillashaw for his cheater comments towards Petr Yan, telling him “you’re about eight years old.”
In the wake of Yan’s DQ loss to Aljamain Sterling at UFC 259, Dillashaw took to his social media to call the former champion a “cheater.” Dillashaw, of course, hasn’t fought in over two years due to a suspension by USADA, and he has admitted that he cheated the system in order to gain an unfair advantage. Seeing the comments that Dillashaw made about Yan and bunching him into the same group of cheats that Dillashaw belongs to was something that Cruz, a former opponent who fought at UFC 259, wasn’t thrilled about seeing.
Cruz, who defeated Casey Kenney on the UFC 259 preliminary card, has a long history with Dillashaw dating back to the pair’s title fight in January 2016 that Cruz won via split decision. Speaking to James Lynch of Fanatics View, Cruz slammed Dillashaw for his comments towards Yan and suggested he’s just looking into a mirror when he says it.
"That's just him exposing himself again, trying to make himself feel better for being a cheater" 💉
Dominick Cruz reacts to TJ Dillashaw's comments on Aljamain Sterling's win over Petr Yan at #UFC259
Full interview https://t.co/OkvIEQpFXN pic.twitter.com/UfM1ywB6oh
— James Lynch (@LynchOnSports) March 11, 2021
“Yeah I mean, okay, so if you’re just trying to stay relevant, I don’t know if those are the choice words personally. But like you said, maybe everybody’s going to dislike you anyway because you’re a cheater so you might as well go all-in on it. But to go look, you’re also a cheater, Yan, that’s just a mirror. That’s just him exposing himself again, trying to make himself feel better for being a cheater. And so it’s like he’s looking at a mirror when he sees Yan, and he’s like, “Oh look, look! He’s a cheater too!” And it’s like ok, cool. You’re about eight years old,” Cruz said.
There have been hints that Dillashaw could fight Cory Sandhagen next in a No. 1 contender match between former teammates, but now that Cruz is talking about Dillashaw, perhaps a rematch between these two longtime rivals is the match to make for both fighters next, with a title shot on the line for the winner. The first fight was a narrow split decision win for Cruz, so perhaps it’s time that they both settled their differences inside the Octagon now.
Do you think we will ever see the rematch between Dominick Cruz and TJ Dillashaw?