This bantamweight barnstormer isn’t the only reason to be excited for UFC Fight Night 81, though.
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But at Sunday’s UFC Fight Night Boston, Dillashaw will finally have his chance to prove that he’s the one and only 135-pound champion when he squares-off with Cruz in the evening’s co-main event, and a fight that many thought would never happen. Ludwig first trained him when they worked together at Urijah Faber’s Team Alpha Male gym in California.
But when Faber, as the team leader and gym owner, had a falling out with Ludwig, he opted to fire him. Me and Faber have had our differences, but you can’t deny the amount of money, time, energy that Faber put into T.J. No matter what T.J. says, that has been spent on him.
You can check out Joe Rogan’s previews of all four main card fights below. “I know it in my training every day”. He gave way to two subsequent champions, first Renan Barao and then T.J.
The only question that needs answering, therefore, is how unfavourably an inordinately long injury lay-off may factor into Dominick Cruz’s performance if and when the fight gets dragged into deep waters, and the man standing opposite him in the Octagon is still raring to go. “So I’m not really thinking of anything else but how I can be best ready to beat Eddie Alvarez”.
“It’s kind of surreal”, the 30-year-old said. During that time, Cruz carved out a new niche for himself as a Fox television analyst, the most insightful in the business of dissecting MMA. I’m happy for the fight. Leister Bowling has been an awesome wrestling coach. Some of my training partners have been pushing me really hard. It does not define me as a person.
“The little guy is coming; they know this”, he laughed. They’re all super respectful guys. He easily makes moves his peers wouldn’t even try. Cruz and Faber are bitter rivals, who fought each other back in their WEC days.
“My power and my aggressiveness are what separate me from [Cruz]. I’m just going to continue to be the humble guy and appreciate what he did for when I got into the sport”. We both do a good job of mixing it together, that’s why Dominick has been so dominant in the past because he mixes it up so well. Can the O.G. of angles still get it done against the very best?
However, against a fighter whose approach and mentality were indeed pioneering a few years back, but are finding their manifestation much more commonplace in today’s MMA landscape, the fight is still arguably TJ Dillashaw’s to lose.
“I definitely think he’s jealous of what I’ve done with my career”.
“I was strictly a wrestler on ‘The Ultimate Fighter, ‘ ” Dillashaw said. I think he’s jealous of that. The Elevation Fight Team product had a quick and simple response.
Cruz last defended the title in October 2011.
While the UFC bantamweight champion isn’t looking past his upcoming opponent, he is keeping an eye on the bantamweight division in terms of future matchups.
Barao hadn’t tasted defeated in almost a decade, but the Brazilian suffered a resounding beating before Dillashaw landed a thunderous head kick in the fifth round, stunning the entire world in the process. While he doesn’t have a preference, these are two losses he’d like to avenge at some point in his career.
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But just like he did after losing to Palaszewski, Pettis got hot after losing to Guida and within four fights, he’d won the UFC title. “That’s obvious. I was in my prime when I got hurt. So I feel good about how it’s played out”.
