Why's Garbrandt, not T.J. Dillashaw, getting UFC 207 title shot? 'You can talk your way into anything now'

LAS VEGAS – T.J. Dillashaw expected to be the one fighting for the title tonight at UFC 207. He’s not, but he don’t think the decision was totally merit-based.

Dillashaw, in fact, thinks he’s been facing tougher competition than even current bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz (22-1 MMA, 5-0 UFC), who meets challenger Cody Garbrandt (10-0 MMA, 5-0 UFC) in tonight’s pay-per-view co-headliner at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Former champ Dillashaw (13-3 MMA, 9-3 UFC), meanwhile, is one spot down on the fight card, where he meets John Lineker (29-7 MMA, 10-2 UFC) in a main-card bout – one that seems likely a title-eliminator but hasn’t officially been declared one.

Dillashaw, who’s No. 2 in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA bantamweight rankings, suffered a split-decision defeat and lost the belt to Cruz in January. Media outlets were split with their scorecards, according to MMADecisions.com, so after a bounce-back victory over No. 3-ranked Raphael Assuncao in July, Dillashaw thought he had earned a title rematch. Instead, No. 1 Cruz is fighting No. 7 Garbrandt.

So why not Dillashaw?

“You can talk your way into anything now, you know?” said Dillashaw, referring to the Cruz-Garbrandt rivalry that’s helped sell the fight. “We were talking about football. Do you see a football team talking their way into the Super Bowl? It doesn’t happen, man. It’s the No. 1-ranked guys, the guys that are winning the tournament.

“It’s an unfortunate thing, but that’s the way it’s working out right now.”

Part of Dillashaw would like to see Garbrandt win the belt – just “because Cruz gets under my skin” and because he’d like to see his former training become the new titleholder. However, Dillashaw also really wants to get back that title loss to Cruz, he said.

Of course, he felt Garbrandt never should have received the UFC 207 title shot anyway.

“I feel like I should’ve been fighting for the title already,” he said. “All I can do is my job. I’m going to continue to beat the No. 2 guys. Raphael Assuncao, No. 2, eight-fight win streak – I ran through him. I’ll beat John Lineker – six-fight win streak, No. 2.

“Really man, I’m fighting the tougher guys. I’m fighting the No. 1 contenders while Cruz is fighting (guys ranked No.) 6 and 8. So you tell me who the champ is, who’s really defending the belt.”

For more from Dillashaw, including his game plan to beat Lineker, check out the video above.

And for more on UFC 207, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.