“What I think [is] TJ [Dillashaw] should have stayed at his weight and should have done what he was supposed to do at 135 [pounds],” Raphael Assuncao told the media on Wednesday in Brazil. “He went down to 125 [pounds] and now… I’m sure he repent, you know, of what happened.
“He should have stayed at his weight class and take responsibility at his weight class. That’s what I think. I think he should have… Just like when I should have fought for the title before, and then Cody [Garbrandt] took my place and it didn’t go well twice for him.
“In the back of my mind I don’t want to be a hater but then I was like, ‘Yeah, see, that’s what you get. It should have been my turn,'” Assuncao continued. “Same with TJ, that’s what you get. You should have been defending your own title.”
At UFC Fortaleza this Saturday night, top UFC bantamweight contender Raphael Assuncao takes on Marlon Moraes in a rematch of their 2017 encounter. The winner will very likely be looking at the next bantamweight title shot against champion TJ Dillashaw.
For Assuncao, the argument could be made that he should have already gotten his first career title shot sooner as he’s 11-1 at 135-pounds with that lone loss coming to Dillashaw who he also holds a win over.
Instead, for Dillashaw’s most recent outing he decided to try his luck at 125-pounds where he challenged the flyweight champion Henry Cejudo for his title at UFC Brooklyn. Unfortunately for Dillashaw, Cejudo would spoil his divisional debut in just 32 seconds.
Now having had Dillashaw lose, it could present a longer waiting period if Cejudo is to rematch Dillashaw for the bantamweight title. If that will happen or not remains to be determined.
For the time being, all either Assuncao or Moraes can do is further make their case starting with UFC Fortaleza.
This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 1/30/2019
UFC commentator Laura Sanko has given her thoughts on the start time controversy for UFC 304 this weekend.
As we know, the UFC will return to Manchester, England tomorrow night. They’ll do so for UFC 304, a stacked event that features two blockbuster title fights.
On the main card of UFC 304, a very intriguing lightweight bout goes down as Bobby Green takes on Paddy Pimblett. Heading into the fight, Green is a slight -122 favorite while ‘The Baddy’ is a -104 underdog on FanDuel.
Ahead of the scrap, BJPENN.com reached out to several pro fighters to make their picks for the lightweight fight. The pros are torn on this one, but the slight majority do think Green will edge out a competitive decision.
UFC veteran Bobby Green convinced CEO Dana White to double the post-fight performance bonuses at UFC 304 this weekend.
Green will face the UFC unbeaten Paddy Pimblett on the UFC 304 main card on Saturday in Manchester. The 37-year-old returns to the Octagon for the chance to earn another signature win and get back in the lightweight mix.
The head coach of Sean Strickland and Chris Curtis wants to mend fences between them after their friendship allegedly deteriorated.
Strickland and Curtis have allegedly fallen out with each other in recent weeks. According to Strickland, Curtis’ political ideology was the beginning of the end of their friendship, and Curtis recently blocked Strickland on social media.
It appears that former UFC champion Sean Strickland is no longer cool with Chris Curtis.
‘Tarzan’ and ‘The Action Man’ have been close friends and training partners for years now. In the last few years, Sean Strickland and Chris Curtis have continued to rise in the UFC together. While the former became middleweight champion with a win over Israel Adesanya last year, the latter has continued to move up the rankings.
Former UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski is willing to fight Leon Edwards or Belal Muhammad.
‘Rocky’ and ‘Remember The Name’ are set to collide in the main event of UFC 304. The bout will be Leon Edwards’ first since a unanimous decision victory over Colby Covington in December. Meanwhile, Belal Muhammad hasn’t competed since a decision win over Gilbert Burns last summer. The welterweight title contest will headline a stacked pay-per-view card from Manchester.
Conor McGregor is taking issue with ESPN’s list of Top 10 Women’s MMA Fighters.
Topping the list is former two-division titleholder Amanda Nunes (23-5 MMA), who retired in 2023 after successfully defending her title by defeating Irene Aldana (15-7 MMA) at UFC 289.
Former UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland is upping the ante in his ongoing mockery and attacks on Belal Muhammad.
Muhammad will face UFC welterweight champion Leon Edwards in the UFC 304 main event this Saturday in Manchester. His long-awaited UFC title shot comes after a 10-fight unbeaten streak that included wins over some of the welterweight elite.