T.J. Dillashaw thinks second win over Cody Garbrandt solidifies him as the ‘best bantamweight ever’

T.J. Dillashaw believes another win over former titleholder Cody Garbrandt will cement his place as the greatest bantamweight to ever compete in MMA.

Speaking on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour, the champion claimed despite his split decision loss to another former champion, Dominick Cruz, he still feels as though he has proven himself to be the best 135er ever.

“It puts me at the top [of the list as the all-time greatest bantamweight]. I know I’m the best bantamweight ever,” Dillashaw told Luke Thomas. “I’ve got a split decision loss to Dominick Cruz and that changed everything, a fight that I thought I won. That changed everything, but I am the best bantamweight in the world.”

“I get to continue to grow my legacy,” he added. “Then I’ll move onto the next challenge and continue to be the best pound-for-pound fighter that I possibly can be.”

Although he acknowledged that the loss to Cruz has taken away from his legacy to some extent, he doesn’t think he needs to rematch the Alliance MMA fighter to underline his status as the best bantamweight ever.

“I don’t think so,” Dillashaw replied when asked if he felt he needed to fight Cruz again.

“My performances speak for themselves. We’ve got to see if Dominick Cruz can even fight. The guy can’t even get in there anymore, so we’ll see if it comes up, but right now I’ve just got to worry about knocking Cody out in three weeks.”

Dillashaw scoffed at Cruz’s suggestion that Garbrandt was injured for their first clash.

“No I do not agree [that Cody was injured in the fight],” Dillashaw said. “I don’t know how him being injured would have had an affect on me knocking him out.”

Although he conceded that his second meeting with his former Team Alpha Male stable mate might be different than the first — a second round TKO victory for Dillashaw at UFC 217 — he believes the outcome will be the same.

“I don’t mind if [the fight is] going to be different,” Dillashaw said. “I’m just going to go out there and make Cody irrelevant at the weight class. I’m going to go out and finish him. He’s got no chin, he doesn’t have any technique and I think I’m going to prove to everybody in the weight class that he doesn’t belong in the top 10.”