TJ Dillashaw disputes “ridiculous” Henry Cejudo loss

On Saturday night, in the main event of the UFC’s first show on ESPN+, UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw dropped down to the flyweight division to challenge Henry Cejudo in a bid to become a two-division champion. Unfortunately for Dillashaw, this mission didn’t go as planned.

Less than a minute into the first round, Henry Cejudo was being peeled off the bantamweight champion for a TKO victory. TJ Dillashaw, however, assures he was not in any real danger — not even close.

“Sucks to have it stolen from me,” Dillashaw said at the post-fight press conference (transcript via MMA Fighting). “I worked my butt off. I’m so much better than that. It would be nice to actually get the chance to show it. It’s a title fight, it’s a champ versus champ fight and you’re gonna stop the fight like that? I’m on a single leg. He says, ‘Show me something.’ I said, ‘I’m OK.’ I’m on a single leg in a scramble, he stops punching, he’s defending a single leg and you’re gonna stop the fight? It’s just ridiculous, man. It’s pretty pathetic that I have better knowledge than that ref.”

Given the way TJ Dillashaw feels about the stoppage, it should come as no surprise that he wants am immediate rematch.

“As you can tell, I’m a little frustrated,” Dillashaw said. “This shit needs to happen again — at flyweight. This is bullshit. I worked my ass off 12 weeks to get here to have it stolen from me in 30 seconds.”

DIllashaw also questioned how Henry Cejudo could be satisfied with this victory.

“How could you be that f*cking happy over that win?” Dillashaw said. “Obviously, he did not lose his belt, he’s gonna feed his family, pay his bills. Good for him. Be happy, yes. But I wouldn’t be happy winning that way, that’s for sure. I wouldn’t call myself the champ champ, I wouldn’t call myself the double champ winning that way.”

“I’m pretty effin’ bitter right now,” he added. “I’m pretty pissed off. I worked my ass off, bro. I’m about to fuckin’ cry. I put in a lot of work. And I don’t know, man. It’s tough.”

“I am leaps and bounds better than Henry Cejudo,” Dillashaw concluded. “I greatly believe that. But unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to prove it.”

What did you think of the fight between TJ Dillashaw and Henry Cejudo? Did the referee get it right?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 1/20/2019.