Cruz questions legitimacy of Dillashaw-Alpha Male beef

The way Dominick Cruz sees it, the split between Team Alpha Male and UFC bantamweight champion T.J. Dillashaw just gives him more targets to aim his barbs at.

For years, Cruz has had a well-documented feud with Alpha Male founder Urijah Faber and one of the camp's best fighters, Joseph Benavidez. The team played a key role in developing Dillashaw, who has since left the camp amidst a rocky relationship with Faber.

On a UFC Fight Night 81 conference call on Thursday, Cruz was asked if his feud with Dillashaw was any less meaningful now that he's no longer a member of Alpha Male.

"No, I mean you can dress up the turd but it still stinks," Cruz said. "He's still an Alpha Male guy, he's still got (Benavidez and Lance Palmer) training with him, so he's still one of them. He's still a jock, he's still a meathead, he's still not that bright, he still uses a lot of the fundamentals that those guys use."

Though Cruz has repeatedly mocked his opponent's intelligence, he did suggest that Dillashaw and Faber could be in cahoots in an attempt to drum up interest in a future fight.

"Just because he's not with them, that's just Faber cutting him off to try and make money," Cruz said. "Faber's always trying to get the big money fights so he's trying to cut him off and make a beef."

Cruz recalled a recent encounter with Faber in which "The California Kid" continued to criticize Dillashaw, an exchange that only further muddied the issue in Cruz's mind.

"I don't know, it's just weird because all those guys have a weird dynamic," Cruz said. "You never know which side they're playing because they're always trying to make money and build the fights up for the future. They could be best friends behind the scenes and pretending to beef right now or they could be really beefing.

"But I know Faber's the type of guy, he wants you to do good but he never wants you to do better than him and right now T.J. is doing a little better than him. So I'm sure there's a real jealousy in Faber's eyes and that's why all this stuff is going down the way it is."