Last Saturday night, in the main of the UFC’s first ever card on ESPN+, UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw dropped down to the flyweight division to challenge local champ Henry Cejudo in a bid to become a two-division champ. Unfortunately for Dillashaw and his fans, this mission didn’t go as planned, as he was stopped by Cejudo in 32 seconds.
In the wake of this tough loss, TJ Dillashaw has been adamant that the referee intervened too early. Speaking in a post-fight statement on Instagram, Dillashaw reiterated this feeling.
“Well F*#% that didn’t go as planned. Sorry to all my fans that I didn’t get to show all my hard work. Tough one to swallow having the fight taken from me like that. But I need to lead by example for my son and practice what I preach, brush my self off and pray that I get the chance to do it again.” – TJ Dillashaw on Instagram.
As aforementioned, these are not the first comments TJ Dillashaw has made on his controversial loss to Henry Cejudo. Speaking to the media post-fight, he passionately disputed the stoppage.
“Sucks to have it stolen from me,” Dillashaw said (transcript via MMA Fighting). “I worked my butt off. I’m so much better than that. It would be nice to actually get the chance to show it. It’s a title fight, it’s a champ versus champ fight and you’re gonna stop the fight like that? I’m on a single leg. He says, ‘Show me something.’ I said, ‘I’m OK.’ I’m on a single leg in a scramble, he stops punching, he’s defending a single leg and you’re gonna stop the fight? It’s just ridiculous, man. It’s pretty pathetic that I have better knowledge than that ref.”
“As you can tell, I’m a little frustrated,” Dillashaw added. “This shit needs to happen again — at flyweight. This is bullshit. I worked my ass off 12 weeks to get here to have it stolen from me in 30 seconds.”
Do you think TJ DIllashaw deserves an immediate rematch with Henry Cejudo?
This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 1/21/2019.