It’s been over three years now since T.J. Dillashaw and Dominick Cruz fought, but clearly, the latter hasn’t become a fan of the reigning bantamweight champ…

Cruz ended the first reign of Dillashaw back in January, 2016, when he defeated the former Team Alpha Male fighter via split decision. Leading up to the memorable fight, Cruz relentlessly insulted his rival and Dillashaw did his best to respond.

Well, fast forward to today, and Dillashaw is coming off a quick stoppage loss to flyweight king Henry Cejudo last month. Dillashaw vehemently protested the stoppage when it happened, and since then he’s continued to do so, as well as claim Cejudo got lucky.

How does Cruz fit in? Recently the former champ appeared on the UFC’s Unfiltered podcast, and while discussing Dillashaw’s ongoing protests, he laid into the champ. Here is just some of what he had to say (quotes via MMA Fighting):

“I look at this and say, is this how insignificantly stupid you are?” Cruz said. “To think you complaining and whining about a stoppage is gonna change anything? You just sound like a moron. Like, nothing is gonna change. You might as well just accept what just happened to you and try to grab a hold of your balls instead of run from them and admit the loss. Because you just got knocked out by a [125er]. And you dropped down to a weight class that dried out your brain and you might not have been as durable as you are at 135.”

“…Now, that’s what he’s saying. ‘Well, he didn’t put my lights out, it should have never have been stopped.’ OK, but did it get stopped? Yes. Why? Because the ref thought he had to save your life. You got kicked in the face, you got an overhand right and you were getting pounded from the top position. The guy was just trying to keep your safe, T.J. So, in the end, maybe don’t put yourself in that position by cutting so much weight.”

Now, one could definitely argue here that Cruz’s feelings about Dillashaw are playing a role here. Thus, the insults etc. But, Cruz isn’t the only person to question whether Dillashaw’s ability to take a shot was compromised by dropping down to 125. Further, a lot of people have dissected the fight’s final moments, and while some do think the ref could have let the fight go a bit longer, it doesn’t seem like many are arguing the outcome would have been different.

Does any of this mean that Dillashaw can’t beat Cejudo in a rematch at 135? No. No it doesn’t.

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