Ludwig (right) analyzed the defeat of his pupil Dillashaw (left). Photo: Mike Roach/UFC
Last Sunday (18), TJ Dillashaw was defeated by Dominick Cruz in a split decision in the main fight of UFC Fight Night 81 and lost the bantamweight belt. In the opinion of his coach, Duane Ludwig, however, the judges' decision was wrong and, therefore, his pupil deserves an immediate rematch against Cruz.
See too
“I would like to see an immediate rematch, because I know TJ messed up Cruz's leg and I know he's going to be out for a while. I feel like we won the fight. We won the first, fourth and fifth rounds. Three rounds to two, we won. It was a wrong decision”, said the coach, in an interview with the “MMA Junkie” website. “Tony Weeks (the judge who gave Cruz a 4×1 victory) doesn’t know shit what he’s doing. These judges need a jiu-jitsu blue belt and at least a year or two of Muay Thai – not that UFC Gym cardio-kickboxing, so they know exactly what the sh*t they're doing. Lives and livelihoods are at stake when they make these shitty decisions, that’s not right,” he added.
Ludwig also analyzed the development of the duel in Boston (USA) and the much-commented volume of blows not connected by Dillashaw, but admitted that the former champion should have ended the fight before regulation time. “Some of those shots didn’t really go in, 100%. But a lot of them are shots we've trained in our systems, which are played to create other openings. Their point of view is ignorant. But, that being said, we should have finished that fight. I accept responsibility. Maybe we need to adjust the game plan a little. Cruz is quite smart,” he commented.
At 29, TJ Dillashaw has a record of 12 wins and three losses, two of them by split decision. Despite the setback for Cruz, Dillashaw remains first in the bantamweight rankings and remains in the weight-for-weight list, which does not take categories into account, in which he appears in 12th.
Comments