Dominick Cruz said he’s “not a guy to make excuses” in the same interview he blasted referee Keith Peterson with wild accusations at UFC 249 in Jacksonville, Fla.
Peterson ended Cruz’s match after the fighter took a knee to the head in the second round of his bantamweight title fight with Henry Cejudo. Cejudo took the opportunity to deliver a handful of blows, and Peterson intervened with just two seconds remaining on the clock to give the win to Cejudo. It seems Cruz wanted the referee to let the fight continue, particularly with such little time left in the round.
“That was an early stoppage, 100 percent – I’m positive of it,” Cruz said on the UFC 249 post-fight show on ESPN, via MMA Junkie. “I wish there was a way to keep these refs a little more responsible sometimes. The guy smelled like alcohol and cigarettes, so who knows what he was doing. Definitely (he did). I wish they drug tested them. I know Herb Dean is good. He’s one of the best refs. I immediately when I saw that ref I was like, ‘Man, is there a way to veto a ref and get a new one?’ I wonder that.”
Cruz added that he was “still in the fight” and “on my way up” when the referee ended the fight. Cruz (22-3 MMA, 5-2 UFC) was returning to UFC after three years away from the sport, and Cejudo (16-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC) announced his retirement after winning the fight.
But it wasn’t all finger pointing for Cruz, who took some accountability.
“If you put yourself in the position for the ref to mess something up in a stoppage, then you do so,” Cruz said.
That’s probably the sentiment he should have led with, rather than directing outlandish accusations at a UFC official. It’s not a good look for Cruz.
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