"There's a lot of opportunities" - Dominick Cruz lists his ideal bantamweight fights

Dominick Cruz hasn't fought yet in 2022, but he's looking to get back in the octagon against any of the top names in the bantamweight division.

In a new interview with The MMA Hour, Cruz expressed some frustration with the amount of time it's taking to sign another fight. He said:

"The belt's important but really, going towards the belt cements my legacy and that's why it's important to go in that direction, to be moving up. To be fighting the Jose Aldos, the Petr Yans, the T.J. Dillashaws, the Aljamain Sterlings, the [Merab] Dvalishvilis that are right there at the top. I'm not asking for a handout. I'm asking for some of the toughest dudes in the world and when the date matches up it'll happen."

.@DominickCruz tells @arielhelwani he wants an opponent ranked above him, but is also willing to rematch Henry Cejudo and "smash him around the cage" 👀 #TheMMAHour

▶️ youtu.be/tk4udXe0oSU https://t.co/sjqSanysx2

Dominick Cruz also added Henry Cejudo to the list of opponents he'd like to fight, saying:

"When some of those people come back, if they actually make it through the testing pool, rematches can happen for me, I like that. There's a lot of opportunities here."

Watch Dominick Cruz discuss his next fight below:

Dominick Cruz revealed that the UFC offered him a fight a month after his win over Pedro Munhoz in December 2021, but he was too injured to accept it. That put him in a position where contractually, the UFC didn't have to offer him another fight for six months.

Now 'The Dominator' is just waiting for matchmakers to come back with a date that works. He suggested August or September on a pay-per-view card.

Dominick Cruz is annoyed that the UFC is throwing T.J. Dillashaw into a bantamweight title fight

While nothing has been formally announced yet, it looks like T.J. Dillashaw is going to be the next contender for the bantamweight title. That has slightly irked Dominick Cruz, who doesn't think Dillashaw deserves a title shot so quickly given his drug test failure for EPO. In a recent episode of UFC Unfiltered, Cruz said:

“I had to fight the guy on that drug. How about that? And I beat him on it. So nobody’s saying nothing about that, but that’s OK. It is what it is. The bottom line is: I think what blows me away is the UFC promotes that man over somebody like me who’s been healthy, clean, promoting the sport in a positive way, promoting the division in a positive way, and they’re just gonna throw him right in there in the mix."

Dillashaw is currently recovering from a knee injury he suffered in his split decision win over Cory Sandhagen in July 2021. When asked in January for a timeline on when he might be ready to compete again, he said he hoped to be able to fight by the middle of 2022.

@kevstuhh TJ Dillashaw

Pictured: his wife's eye with a reflection of him winning the belt inside it https://t.co/bwpkF70sQt