Cruz: I basically taught everyone to grow a pair
Cruz: I taught the division to grow a pair
UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz appeared recently on MMAjunkie Radio, declared that he taught the division to grow a pair. Cruz faces a number of new challengers now that he is firmly back from injury, and all are calling him out. However, he chides the division for a lack of call outs and excitement during the years when he was out with injuries.
I cleaned out the division once already before I got injured, said Cruz, as transcribed by MMAjunkie. I had beat everybody. They started a new weight class at 125 pounds. A lot of guys dropped down because I had faced everybody at 135 at that point. Once I got hurt, it kind of put a blank in that area, and it allowed these guys to fight for it and fight to see who the next-best guy in the division is.
I’m here to clean out the division. All these guys want to talk, but I don’t think any of them can hang with me. None of them. If I can’t clean out the division, then I want a big fight and try to bring the belts together at 145 possibly.
What it comes down to is understanding that coming back and doing what I did kind of pissed everybody off I think more than anything. You never heard any of these guys calling out any other 135-pounder in the history of the division. Much less, where were these guys talking while I was out? That’s the way I view this situation. I go, ‘Who was the last person to get called out at 135 pounds while I was injured the past four years analyzing on FOX?’
I was begging for these guys to talk to each other so we could build a division even while I was hurt. They wouldn’t do it. Now I come back, I beat these guys up, and now everyone has something to say, everyone has an idea. I’m scared of everybody all of a sudden. I’m running from everybody all of a sudden. Everybody can knock me out, but nobody could knock out the other guys while I was gone. It’s just ironic. It’s weird how things work. I basically taught everybody to grow a pair and start running their mouth is what happened.
You look at the division, and I’m facing the best guys. Every time I fight, I’m fighting the next-best guy in the division, according to rankings.