TJ Dillashaw not happy with stoppage; Cejudo and White respond
TJ Dillashaw had a chance to become the next champ-champ in the UFC. He was moving down in weight to take on flyweight champion, Henry Cejudo. However, the fight did not go the way Dillashaw expected. Cejudo appeared to rock Dillashaw early and was looking to put him out. Then, as Cejudo stopped throwing strikes and Dillashaw was looking for a single leg, the ref called the fight. It may have been an early stoppage, but some agree with the stoppage. Know for sure, Dillashaw was not happy with it at all.
“Sucks to have it stolen from me,” Dillashaw said at the post-fight press conference. “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.”
Dillashaw also believes Cejudo shouldn’t be happy winning that way and they should run it back at flyweight.
Meanwhile, UFC President, Dana White also agrees with Dillashaw that the stoppage was early.
“I thought it was an early stoppage too,” White said.
“Listen, you’ve got two of the best guys in the world, two world champions, in a superfight. Let them fight, let them finish, and I’m not talking anything away from Cejudo because the fight went 20 seconds and Cejudo busted him up. I’m sure when you saw [Dillashaw] sitting here it looks like he was in a three-round fight, but Jesus Christ, let ‘em fight. Horrible stoppage.”
Although both Dillashaw and White think it was an early stoppage, Cejudo doesn’t agree. He was the one throwing the punches and he believes that Dillashaw did go limp signaling he was done.
“It was a great stoppage because I felt his body go limp,” Cejudo said at the UFC Brooklyn post-fight press conference. “You guys have to understand I weighed in at 146 pounds when I fought him. Strong, and you could see it. Every blow that he took, he was eating some hammers. Personally, I thought it was a good stoppage because he was going to take another 10, 20 hits.
