Dominick Cruz Explains Reasoning Behind Fighting Cody Garbrandt
UFC 207 will be headlined by the highly anticipated return to the octagon of former UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Ronda Rousey, but the co-main event features the culmination of a bitter rivalry between UFC Bantamweight Champion Dominick Cruz and Cody Garbrandt.
"Some people say somebody deserves it, that doesn't matter to me," Cruz told MMA Fighting. "I don't care what anybody else thinks or what anybody else deserves, because there's no validity behind that. There's nothing. Rankings don't mean anything, I don't care about rankings. I care about sales. And right now, Cody Garbrandt is running his mouth enough, he's writing such a big check that he can't cash, that I can't wait to take it all from him and stuff it down his throat."
Cruz also argues that while Garbrandt may not be the highest ranking fighter for a title shot, the storyline between himself and his challenger is enough to make people want to tune in.
"What the difference is, is that he comes from a storyline of guys that I've been beating down for 10-plus years from a camp called Alpha Fail and his biggest coach is a guy that I've been smashing for 10-plus years," Cruz said. "It's just there. It's all there for the taking. It's all there for everybody on their entire squad that's going to be sad and crying again after I smash their boy. So it's perfect for me. I love it. The fight interests me, because he's the next guy in line that the UFC wants me to fight and he's been talking, yes. Anybody who's said as much foul things about anybody as he's said to me, you'd want to fight him. It just makes it a little more fun."
Cruz has also been learning from UFC Featherweight Champion Conor McGregor that selling a fight may be more important than anything other aspect.
"I didn't think talking would mean anything," Cruz said. "I thought it was just talk. But it's not. It's actually not. Because the fans grasp ahold of talking and that's what matters, is the fans. Not the UFC. The UFC thinks what the fans think. That's what the UFC thinks, because they're smart. They don't care what the fighters think, they don't care what the media thinks, they care what the fans think. And when you care what the fans think, you get sales."
Cruz will take on Garbrandt at UFC 207, which takes place on Friday, December 30 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada with Amanda Nunes and Ronda Rousey headlining.
