With everything that has gone down between T.J. Dillashaw and Urijah Faber in the aftermath of the Dillashaw’s split with Team Alpha Male, most would expect Dillashaw would root against Faber at every turn. However, it turns out that’s not the case.
Dillashaw might not have a great relationship with Faber, but he straight up doesn’t like Dominick Cruz, the man who beat him for the UFC bantamweight title in January.
So when Cruz and Faber square off in their trilogy fight at UFC 199 at the Forum in Inglewood, Calif., Dillashaw will root for his former Team Alpha Male partner.
“I have to be happy for Urijah,” Dillashaw said on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour. “I had a friendship with the guy, it’s a cool story if he goes out and beats [Cruz] and finally gets his belt in like his eighth title shot or something like that, it would be a cool way for him to finish his career in the UFC. So I’m going to root for him, even through all this drama going on, this bullcrap that got blown out of the water that went on between me and him. I still hope he wins the fight, I like him a lot more than I like Cruz. Cruz is not very respectful and kind of a dick.”
That said, Dillashaw can’t see Faber, the former WEC featherweight champion, defeating Cruz at this juncture in each man’s career.
“Cruz [wins], for sure,” he said. “Cruz is a little too athletic for Faber, Faber is flat-footed. … It’s kind of crazy that Team Alpha Male hasn’t caught on to the way [Cruz] fights. He’s got two weapons and that’s pretty much it.”