Michael Bisping has shared the UFC commentary and analyst booth with Dominick Cruz many times, but he admits to having mixed feelings about ‘The Dominator’ being given a bantamweight title shot against Henry Cejudo on May 9th, despite his last fight being a loss well over three years ago.
“I mean Dominick Cruz, good for him,” Bisping said on his ‘Believe You Me’ podcast. “You know he’s getting the title fight back after being away from the sport for three and a half years… Dominick Cruz is back and he is a long time champion, one of the best to ever do it, so that’s a really interesting fight, Luis.”
“Yes, I mean. It’s been a long time. Three and a half years and he lost his last fight,” Bisping’s podcast partner Luis Gomez replied. “I have a hard time giving him a title shot. I think what’s going on here is they [UFC] needed to come back with a vengeance and I don’t hate on it. I think it’s great, I think it’s really great. But, it’s a little bit of a tough pill to swallow to see Dominick Cruz coming back for a title shot.”
“I just feel like people were talking about how it’s a tough pill to swallow Jose Aldo getting a title shot [against Cejudo] coming off a loss,” highlighted Gomez. “But at the very least, it was a debate whether he won that fight. A lot of people thought he won that fight.”
Bisping went on to acknowledge that Gomez had a point, but seemed to lean more towards the side of the argument that Cruz had paid his dues over the years.
“I’m not hating on it,” Bisping responded. “I like Dominick, he’s a good guy. He’s certainly put his dues in this sport over the years. He’s a long long time fighter, multiple-time champion. Remember, he came back from a long layoff and beat TJ Dillashaw. Close fight, but he took the belt back from TJ Dillashaw. So there’s no doubt of the calibre or the skills that he has, but you are right.”
