Cruz on Garbrandt: 'I kill hype for a living'
Dominick Cruz has returned fire in his brewing beef with Cody Garbrandt.
On Monday, Garbrandt issued a WWE-reminiscent callout to the UFC bantamweight champ, in which he guaranteed a knockout victory should they walk the walk in the Octagon. "The Dominator," smug as ever, had some words of his own for the rising star.
"Let the youngster enjoy his hype train fresh off his win," Cruz said, according to MMAFighting's Ariel Helwani. "Let his people keep on building that false sense of confidence that they are all instilling into his psyche over this period, it's good for him. I kill hype for a living."
Garbrandt's fan-friendly fighting style and his impressive knockout of Takeya Mizugaki at UFC 202 have indeed been a boon to his public profile, although his steady barrage of verbal jabs at Cruz have yet to earn him a shot at the champ.
"No Love" told Helwani that he confronted Cruz at the T-Mobile Arena at Saturday's event, and thanks to SBG Ireland striking coach Owen Roddy, the tail end of their standoff can be seen at the 48-second mark of the following video: