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When it was time to decide the challenger for the UFC bantamweight title, Dominick Cruz had two possible opponents. The first option was T.J. Dillashaw, the former champion, and the other was Cody Garbrandt, the undefeated up-and-comer, who won thrice by knockouts in 2016 and started a squabble with Cruz.
The UFC has elected to go with Garbrandt, seemingly preferring a juicier storyline over a higher-ranked foe. Cruz and Garbrandt are slated to fight on Dec. 30 in one of the year’s biggest shows, UFC 207.
The reigning champion has already sounded off a warning and isn’t willing to mince words about what he thinks about his young opponent. Here’s what he said on Monday’s edition of the MMA Hour:
“Plain and simple, he’s not in the top-five of the division. And that’s my job, to go out there and prove it. He did talk himself into this fight, 100-percent, and now it’s my job to go out there and fight him. I want to fight this man, and that’s why this fight is happening, because it sparks interest. There’s a beef there. This guy’s been running his mouth a lot, so my job is to go out there and shut it for him and show him why he’s nowhere near the level he think he is.”
Garbrandt possesses quite a formidable résumé. He has an unbeaten 5-0 record in the UFC bantamweight division. Except for one, Garbrandt’s UFC bouts have culminated via KO/TKO, which is rare in the weight class. However, Cruz questions if there is anything more to Garbrandt’s game, than his right hand.
“He’s got knockouts on his record, yes, in the first round, yes, but so did Shane Carwin and we all saw what happened to him when he went out there and went past the first round, didn’t we?” Cruz said.
“And that’s what this game is. This is a game where you have to be able to mix it up, and not just (fight for) one round and show how dominant you can be with your power,” he added.
Cruz went on to elaborate why the young fighter would need more than his powerful right hand to stand a chance:
“You have to have more than power. You have to have ring generalship. You have to understand how to mix things up in the clinch, in the takedowns, over-unders. You have to understand that when you’re on your back, how do I get back up without threatening myself? And a style where somebody’s been proven to only go three rounds, that’s a tough style to deal with when you’re fighting a guy like me.”
While the war of words has only started, both fighters have already had several run-ins with one another, whether over social media or in person. An example of this, was the incident in August when Cruz and Garbrandt had an encounter before UFC 202.
After running into each other in the halls of the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and the two had to be separated.
“He went and found me when I was doing my job, and he put himself in a situation where he tried to look as tough as possible, and he made sure and put his nice coat on that he wears every time he wants to act tough, and he did that. He went there, he acted tough, he did his job, and now all he’s got to do is act that way for every 30-second clip he can and then he gets himself a shot. Same thing (Urijah) Faber did throughout the entire career that he’s had to get title shots. I mean, this is their game. This is the Alpha Fail game.”
“They just know to make it real with media, and that’s Faber’s tutoring helping the punch-drunk Cody ‘No Love.’” he added.
Cruz concluded by saying that it was alright if ‘No love’ was being groomed but insisted that his opponent is not smart enough to deal with competition at its highest level.
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