Two years after Dominick Cruz's last fight, T.J. Dillashaw torn on title status

Tuesday marks an anniversary for Dominick Cruz, and it’s not one he probably wants to celebrate.

It’s been two years since Cruz last fought. On Oct. 1, 2011, the UFC’s bantamweight champion defended his title with a unanimous decision win over Demetrious Johnson in the main event of UFC on Versus 6 in Washington, D.C.

To put that time in a little bit of perspective, when Cruz last fought, the UFC had not yet held its first event on FOX. Versus has since become the NBC Sports Network. Johnson not only changed weight classes, but became the UFC’s flyweight champ and has defended the title successfully two times. At 1-0 in the UFC when Cruz last fought, current interim bantamweight champion was just starting to get on the mainstream MMA radar. And newly signed bantamweight Sergio Pettis, brother of lightweight champ Anthony Pettis, had just wrapped up his pro debut.

Cruz’s dilemma has been well-told, but to recap: While coaching opposite Urijah Faber on Season 15 of “The Ultimate Fighter,” he blew out his knee, requiring surgery in May 2012. This past December, while rehabbing, Cruz had to undergo a second ACL surgery. Meahwhile, Barao beat Faber to become interim champ and has defended the temporary title against Michael McDonald and Eddie Wineland.

Now Barao waits word on when Cruz might be ready to return for a unification bout, and most signs point to the early part of 2014 for when the champ might be ready to finally come back. After months of saying there were no plans to strip Cruz of his title, UFC President Dana White finally recently had to admit that if Cruz couldn’t hit the latest time frame, the UFC would be left with no choice but to name Barao the champ.

On Tuesday, T.J. Dillashaw, a rising bantamweight looking to put himself into the title picture, said the decision of whether or not to strip Cruz is a difficult one.

“It definitely makes sense,” Dillashaw told MMAjunkie.com Radio. “It’s hard for me because I wouldn’t want to strip a guy for something he can’t control. He worked hard to get that title, he’s a great fighter (and) it’s hard to just say, ‘Take it away from the guy.’

“But on the other hand, it almost would help him out because coming back from that long of a layoff, he’s got to fight Renan Barao, one of the top guys in our weight class. That’s a tough fight to come back to off a two-year layoff. It would be nice for him to get a warm-up fight or something in his case.”

The UFC, of course, doesn’t do “warm-up fights” for its champions. And Cruz wouldn’t be the first to return after a lengthy injury layoff and need to face an interim champion to unify the titles.

But the thinking has been, two-plus years, with the kind of knee injury he had, against Barao, who hasn’t lost in more than eight years? Well, it almost seems unfair. And that’s why Dillashaw is torn on what he’d do if he was in the UFC’s shoes.

“Ultimately, I wouldn’t want to strip it from him,” he said. “It’s something that he earned. It is tough, though, because Barao’s been waiting forever to get that No. 1 spot. So I’m kind of up in the air with it. It’s a tough decision.”

Dillashaw next week travels to Brazil to face Raphael Assuncao at UFC Fight Night 29, which takes place at Jose Correa Arena in Barueri, Sao Paulo, Brazil. The main card, including Dillashaw-Assuncao, airs on FOX Sports 1 following prelims on the same channel, as well as Facebook. Dillashaw is ranked No. 12 and Assuncao No. 9 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie.com MMA bantamweight rankings.

Dillashaw, who trains at the esteemed Team Alpha Male camp in Sacramento, said if he works his way to a title shot, he’d want it to be against the real champ, not an interim titleholder – whoever that may be.

So maybe that does play into his thought process a little bit, if he were forced to choose between stripping Cruz of the title or letting him come back when he’s ready, whenever that may be. Still, he holds out hope that Cruz’s timeframe of early 2014 is accurate.

“It does (mess up the division),” Dillashaw said. “When I get that title shot, I want it to be the real thing. But it’s been long enough, and he should be ready to come back.”

For more on UFC Fight Night 29, as well as the rest of the UFC’s upcoming schedule, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.

(Pictured: T.J. Dillashaw)