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MANILA, Philippines – Dominick Cruz has been an unstoppable force in the bantamweight division as of late, winning 11-straight bouts and making 5 successful title defenses in both Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and World Extreme Cagefighting.
Cruz’s recent track record hasn’t discouraged Filipino-American fighter John Dodson from wanting a shot at knocking him off his throne.
“I will win against Dominick Cruz,” he said during his live interview with Rappler on Thursday, June 23.
Dodson, who made a name for himself as a flyweight, recently transferred to the 135-pound weight class and scored a 47-second knockout victory over Manny Gamburyan this past April.
Although he pulled off a spectacular win in his bantamweight return, Dodson is not being mentioned as one of the potential opponents for Cruz.
Many cageside observers are pitting Cruz against UFC flyweight titleholder Demetrious Johnson, who is widely recognized as Dodson’s chief rival.
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Both men crossed paths twice inside the Octagon, with Johnson coming out on top of their first encounter in January 2013 via razor-thin decision triumph before carving out a convincing unanimous decision conquest versus Dodson in their September 2015 rematch.
Meanwhile, Johnson also shared the same cage with Cruz, losing to the bantamweight kingpin by way of unanimous decision in October 2011.
With reports circulating that Johnson plans to move up in weight and face Cruz, Dodson suggested that he will square off with the winner of the marquee match-up.
“I don’t care about that fight because in fact, whoever wins that one, I am going to fight him next,” he stressed.
The 31-year-old native of Albuquerque, New Mexico believes that Johnson will have the same fate when he crosses path with Cruz again.
“The same thing is going to happen when Dominick Cruz fights Demetrious Johnson. And Demetrious Johnson is going to lose for the second time,” Dodson stated.
Currently ranked No. 9 in UFC’s bantamweight ratings, Dodson knows that he has long way to go before he positions himself as the rightful contender for the bantamweight title.
To catapult him into championship contention, Dodson would like to lock horns with the division’s notable names such as TJ Dillashaw, Bryan Caraway, Aljamain Sterling and Cody Garbrandt.
“I definitely want to fight somebody who will put me up there,” he asserted. “Whoever the UFC puts in front of me will put me ahead of everyone.” – Rappler.com
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