An irate TJ Dillashaw slammed referee Kevin MacDonald after his 32-second TKO defeat to UFC flyweight champion Henry Cejudo at UFC Fight Night in Brooklyn.
The UFC bantamweight world champion, who dropped down 10lbs to challenge Olympic gold medal-winner Cejudo for his flyweight belt, was stopped in short order after being caught by a head kick and a flurry of punches by Cejudo, who claimed a quickfire TKO victory in the night's main event in New York.
But while Cejudo was celebrating, Dillashaw was arguing with referee Kevin MacDonald after what he believed was a premature stoppage that cost him his shot at becoming a two-division world champion.
"It sucks, man," he said in the post-fight press conference.
"It sucks to have it stolen from you. I worked my butt off. I'm so much better than that and it'd be nice to actually get the chance to show it."
Dillashaw directed his frustration at referee MacDonald, who stepped in to call a stop to the contest after 32 seconds.
The finish was labelled as "a horrible stoppage" by UFC president Dana White, and that view was echoed by Dillashaw, who was left angry and frustrated by the stoppage.
"It's a title fight. It's a champ versus champ fight. And you're gonna stop a fight like that?" he asked.
"I'm in on a single-leg (takedown). He says 'Hey, show me something.' I say 'I'm OK!'
"I'm on a single-leg, in a scramble. He stops punching, he's defending a single-leg and you're gonna stop the fight?
"It's just ridiculous man. It's pretty pathetic that I have better knowledge than that ref.
"I want to lose if I'm gonna lose."
And despite the rumours of the UFC shutting down the flyweight division, Dillashaw said he wasn't done with fighting at flyweight and called for a rematch with Cejudo at 125lbs to settle the score.
"Congratulations Henry Cejudo. Awesome, great job, man. But you did not win this fight," he stated.
"I am happy to accept defeat, but I did not lose.
"As you can tell, I'm a little frustrated. This s**t needs to happen again at flyweight. This is bulls**t.
"I worked my ass off for 12 weeks to get here, to have things stolen from me in 30 seconds.
"I'll f*****g fight tomorrow. Excuse my language."
Source : RT - Daily news
'This is bulls**t': TJ Dillashaw criticizes referee after 32-second loss at UFC Brooklyn
'This is bulls**t': TJ Dillashaw criticizes referee after 32-second loss at UFC Brooklyn
