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“I’m Not Interested in Fighting TV Commentators” – Petr Yan Shuts Down Dominick Cruz

Published 04/01/2020, 4:45 PM EDT

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Dominick Cruz was once considered the best pound-for-pound fighter in the UFC. However, injuries have prevented him from holding on to that for long. He is now planning to make his return to the Octagon. A name that is coming up as a potential opponent for him is Petr Yan.

The Russian is undefeated while he is in the UFC. His last win over Urijah Faber has put him in prime contention for a title shot against Henry Cejudo. He has even blamed “Triple C” for ducking and avoiding him. A win against a former champ in Dominick Cruz could be the catalyst that can propel him towards being the No. 1 contender.

However, as it turns out, Yan is not inclined towards fighting the two-time Bantamweight champ. In a twitter post, he took a jibe at Cruz by calling him a TV commentator. He said that he has more UFC wins than Cruz.

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It all started with Cruz saying that he preferred a fight with Petr over Cory Sandhagen. In an interview with MMA Fighting, Cruz explained the reason why he preferred Yan. He also delineated the reasons regarding the rumour that he was avoiding the Sandhagen fight.

Dominick Cruz says he picked Petr Yan fight because it would bring him closer to a title shot

Cruz explained that the only common denominator between him and Cory Sandhagen is the UFC matchmaker, Sean Shelby. He said that he doesn’t talk to Cory a lot. Therefore, any news that reaches to Cory about what he said will be through Sean.

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“What Shelby does is he creates fights between the fighters before the fight happens so that he can get himself out of the way,” Cruz said. “That’s my experience. It’s not a fact. And what I’m getting from this is Shelby’s telling Sandhagen about me, then Cory Sandhagen puts it out there and then expects me to bite.”

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Cruz explained that the UFC matchmaker told him that a fight with Yan will give him a much shorter route to the title. That was the reason that he wanted to fight the Russian over Sandhagen. He added that he never says to no fights.

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“I never said no to Sandhagen, I never would. I don’t say no to fights. What I said no to was not fighting Petr Yan. I want to fight Petr Yan, I want to fight Marlon Moraes, I want to fight for the title after I fight one of those guys.”

Cruz last fought in the UFC in December 2016 when he lost the Bantamweight crown to Cody Garbrandt. A string of injuries has kept him away since then. He, however, wishes to make a return in 2020. Cruz has gone through such a long layoff before as well in 2011.

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Written by:

Rishabh Singh

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Rishabh Singh is an MMA author at EssentiallySports since 2020. An engineer in the making, his love for combat sports began by watching Anderson Silva light people up inside the Octagon. When he isn't busy in his technical pursuits, he is an avid reader with a love for sports in general and sporting history in particular.
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