"He completely failed as a referee" - Dominick Cruz goes nuclear on referee Keith Peterson while recalling controversial TKO loss

Dominick Cruz recently sounded off on referee Keith Peterson while recalling his TKO loss against Henry Cejudo at UFC 249 in May 2020. Cruz accused Peterson of pulling off an unfair stoppage and called the veteran referee a "complete failure."

Cruz went up against Cejudo at UFC 249 in an attempt to become a three-time bantamweight champion. While many backed Cruz to beat Cejudo, 'The Dominator' was defeated via a controversial second-round knockout. Peterson called a stop to the fight after Cejudo landed several unanswered shots on Cruz while the latter attempted to get off the ground.

It appears Cruz disagreed with the referee's decision and holds a grudge to this day. In an interview with Demetrious Johnson, Cruz went off on Peterson and said:

"The way that the fight went, I’m on my feet, I’m up. I'm not trying to, I'm up. There's one second left on the clock. 'All Nonsense' Keith Peterson is a complete f**up for that. Only sporting event in the world going on, one second on the clock. I did my job as a fighter, and he completely failed as a referee. A complete failure, and on multiple occasions, he’s kept doing it."

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He continued:

There’s a game we’re playing. You gotta let me play the game but Keith Peterson took that opportunity away from me. Took half of my check from me, because he wanted to look at Henry and listen to him... Dude, you are a weakling. You are a weak human for that. So get your life together and come back and get in and ref."

When Dominick Cruz sounded off on Keith Peterson's refereeing skills

It's no secret that Dominick Cruz isn't a fan of Keith Peterson. The UFC legend has criticized Peterson on multiple occasions and even requested that 'No Nonsense' not work his fights.

In January, Cruz spoke to Chael Sonnen and Daniel Cormier in an episode of the Good Guy/ Bad Guy show. In one segment, Cruz played a word association game with the hosts. After Peterson's name was prompted, Cruz replied:

"'All Nonsense.' We know the truth. That guy would have a losing record as a ref. If we went and we had to critique each ref's performance the way we get critiqued, that guy would have been fired months ago. Months. He's been late, too early to stoppages, like, what are you watching? I don't know. 'All Nonsense.'" [H/t: MMA Junkie]

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Edited by Nishant Zende.