PERHAPS IT’S THE confusion surrounding the status of UFC 197, or the fact that it’s not a Saturday night pay-per-view card, but the build-up to this weekend’s long-awaited UFC bantamweight title bout has been unusually muted.
On Sunday night at the TD Garden in Boston, TJ Dillashaw (12-2) will make his third defence of the belt. His opponent is Dominick Cruz (20-1), the first ever title-holder in the UFC’s 135lbs division.
Cruz hasn’t been beaten since March 2007, but due to a series of injuries, he’s seen just 61 seconds of competitive action in 51 months. Aside from his first-round KO of Takeya Mizugaki in September 2014, Cruz hasn’t fought since he successfully defended the UFC bantamweight title against currently flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson in 2011.
As a result of Cruz’s protracted injury absence, he was stripped of the belt two years ago. Interim kingpin Renan Barao was promoted to the role of undisputed champion, but he was beaten by Dillashaw in a huge upset at UFC 173 in May 2014.
Dillashaw has looked impressive in his subsequent defences, stopping both Joe Soto and Barao — in a rematch. However, he knows that in order to remove all doubts over his status as the best bantamweight in the world, he needs to see off Dominick Cruz.
They’re two of the most entertaining fighters in the world, and with Anthony Pettis facing Eddie Alvarez in Sunday night’s co-headliner, you might want to consider taking Monday off work.
If this recent exchange between Cruz and Dillashaw on FOX Sports is anything to go by, it’s first blood to the former champion…
