Morning Report: TJ Dillashaw says UFC was ‘hard for’ Cody Garbrandt, pushed him into quick rematch

At UFC 217, Cody Garbrandt and T.J. Dillashaw finally got to settle their beef when the fought for the UFC bantamweight title. Dillashaw was victorious that night, knocking out Garbrandt in the second round. Afterwards, most fans assumed that “No Love” would have to work his way back up the mountain to get another crack at Dillashaw but, in a surprising move, the UFC eventually granted Garbrandt an immediate rematch, despite not being a long-reigning champion.

The two fought again at UFC 227 on Saturday but this time Dillashaw made even quicker work of Garbrandt, knocking him out in the first round. Before their rematch, Dillashaw said that Garbrandt got the opportunity because “he’s willing to make a fool of himself,” but now that the rivalry is settled, the bantamweight champion says that actually Garbrandt got the rematch because the UFC was invested in the former champion, and even though he’s now stopped Garbrandt twice, he is waiting for the UFC to give Garbrandt another at beating him.

“We agreed to [a fight with Demetrious Johnson] but then he had to get shoulder surgery and so the UFC was like, ‘We don’t know how long he’s gonna be out, we want you to fight Cody,’” Dillashaw said on the latest edition of Brendan Schaub’s Below the Belt. “I’m still waiting for a phone call right now from my manager saying, ‘Man, the UFC wants you to fight Cody again. They think it was a fluke.’ [Laughs]. You know what I mean?

“I’m just kidding. The UFC’s put so much money and time into that kid, they loved him. They were hard for that kid. They wanted to pump him up. Even the Embeddeds coming up to this fight – I’m the world f**king champion and it’s about him! Dude, it’s f**king ridiculous. I’m just waiting for this phone call saying, ‘They want you to fight Cody again.’ Sweet! Pay me some more money, I’ll knock his ass out again.”

With a third match-up with Garbrandt unlikely, Dillashaw can get down to the business of defending his title in one of the most talent-stacked divisions in MMA. Bantamweight currently has a backlog of worthy contenders who have been waiting on their shot at the belt, none more vocal than the former champion and man who dethroned Dillashaw the first time, Dominick Cruz, who has been calling for a title shot with Dillashaw since his win. The only problem there is that Cruz hasn’t fought since he lost the belt to Garbrandt at UFC 207. Still Dillashaw is willing to fight Cruz, if “The Dominator” proves his worth first.

“The one thing I have against Cruz is he feels entitled,” Dillashaw said. “He feels entitled to this rematch. You haven’t been active. If you’ve been active, sure you deserve the title match. But you want to be sidelined for two years saying you’re ‘injured’ [makes quotations with his fingers] and then all of a sudden I’m looking for a contender and you’re like, ‘Oh, I’m ready.’ You just want to pass murderers row up. You don’t want to challenge yourself whatsoever. To me it’s a little p*ssy move. ‘Oh, I’m hurt.’ Sure, maybe you were hurt but go out there and prove yourself. Go out there and beat Marlon Moraes and let’s do this dance.”