"Who are you to say that he didn't challenge himself?" - Javier Mendez reacts to Dominick Cruz seemingly taking a dig at Khabib Nurmagomedov
Javier Mendez, the longtime head coach of Khabib Nurmagomedov has asserted that Dominick Cruz is unaware of the hardships the Dagestani fighter has faced. The comments come in response to a recent slight at 'The Eagle' from Cruz.
In an edition of the Javier Mendez AKA Podcast, Mendez explained that Cruz was wrong in insinuating that Nurmagomedov retired undefeated because he didn’t challenge himself enough. Mendez stated:
“That’s somebody just to me that is somewhat trying to explain his situation. You’re not in Khabib’s shoes. He’s not in your shoes. So, who are you to say that he didn’t challenge himself? Who are you to say? He can’t talk about you. You shouldn’t talk about him. Let him do what he did. You do what you do. He was a very good champion, and he had a lot of hardships with injuries, and he pushed through a lot of those barriers to even come back the way he did. So, I applaud him for that.”
Javier Mendez pointed out that although Dominick Cruz didn’t directly mention Khabib Nurmagomedov, it’d be safe to say that Cruz was talking about ‘The Eagle’ since he’s the only top-tier MMA fighter to retire undefeated. Mendez said:
“So, he’s only talking about him, and my saying is – You don’t know what he’s challenged. You don’t know what he went through; just like we don’t know what you went through.” Mendez added, “Fighters are fighters. They fight inside with their words. They fight with their fists. They fight with their actions. And he’s a fighter. It’s okay to voice his opinion. We don’t have to agree with it. I definitely don’t agree with it. One hundred percent I don’t agree with it.”
Watch Javier Mendez’s reaction to Dominick Cruz’s comments in the video below:
Dominick Cruz has his sights set on UFC bantamweight gold, with a potential Sean O’Malley fight looming on the horizon
Former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov retired from MMA in October 2020. Meanwhile, former UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz is still an active MMA competitor and has vowed to reclaim the UFC bantamweight title.
BREAKING: Khabib Nurmagomedov announces his retirement from MMA. #UFC254 https://t.co/JtLGvh36ds
As of this writing, we’re just hours away from ‘The Dominator’s’ return to the octagon. Dominick Cruz is set to fight Pedro Munhoz in a bantamweight bout on the UFC 269 prelims. Meanwhile, UFC sensation and fellow bantamweight Sean O’Malley is scheduled to fight Raulian Paiva on the UFC 269 main card.
‘Suga’ has been lobbying for a fight against MMA legend Dominick Cruz as of late. The consensus is that should they win their respective fights at UFC 269, the much-awaited Cruz-O’Malley matchup could finally materialize in 2022.