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Dominick Cruz's call out of Hans Molenkamp at UFC 259 led to an "open-minded" conversation between him and Monster Energy, said Cruz.
Cruz had called for a charity fight against Hans Molenkamp, who is in charge of the combat sports division at Monster Energy, after his fight against Casey Kenney at UFC 259. Cruz said he doesn't like how Molenkamp chases "clout" by taking pictures with the UFC fighters against their will.
In his recent interview with James Lynch, Dominick Cruz opened up on how Monster Energy and Hans Molenkamp reacted to his call out. According to Cruz, the company's approach was receptive as they heard his side with an open mind.
"Yes, the company has reached out to me, and they were very open-minded with me at the top," said Cruz. "They reached out to me, and they were very open-minded, and they were hearing my side. I couldn't really do that before. I've been with Monster (energy drink) for seven-plus years, and because of the person that I have spoken about, if I was to talk to that person the way I did yesterday, I would have gotten a flood of texts, a flood of calls about 'what are you doing, why are you talking to the bosses? You can't be doing that because then they start asking me questions'. So it was nice to get that call, and it was nice to have that talk without hearing from that person (Hans Molenkamp). Not a text, not a peep," added Cruz.
Dominick Cruz claims Hans Molenkamp took screenshots of their conversation
Dominick Cruz further added that he didn't hear anything at all from Hans Molenkamp after his callout. However, Molenkamp took screenshots of his conversation with Cruz moments before 'The Dominator' gave his post-fight interview at UFC 259.
"That person (Hans Molenkamp) has reached out to me, but all he did was take a screenshot of our text message conversation before I did the post-fight interview. There was no word, it was just a screenshot of our conversation. So it was very passive-aggressive, very his way of doing things. There's no communication," said Dominick Cruz.
Dominick Cruz also clarified that he is not angry at Molenkamp. The former bantamweight champion, however, noted that he will not be a mere spectator and entertain Molenkamp.
"He always pretends to be my friend to my face, and then does shady things. I am not angry at this person, I am not mad at this person," said Cruz. "Because if it's happening to me, I'm positive it's happening to other fighters because I'm no dummy. And I don't like the way it made me feel".
Although UFC president Dana White acknowledged Monster Energy as being one of the promotion's best sponsors, he also noted that Molenkamp is a "one goofy dude".
Here is the comment that White had made about Molenkamp on an Instagram post.
