T.J. Dillashaw might be very unhappy with his employers soon.

Dillashaw lost the bantamweight championship to Dominick Cruz back in January via contentious split decision. Since then he has been angling for a rematch, though Cruz himself seems rather cool to the idea, preferring super-fights with Jose Aldo or Conor McGregor.

Though no official opponent has been announced as Cruz's next challengers, Dillashaw thinks that shot should rightfully be his, and on Brian Stann's radio show Tuesday on SiriusXM Rush, the former bantamweight champion had some strong opinions on why he should be next in line to face Cruz.

"It only makes sense. If you really look at the sport, when the No. 1 ranked fighter beats the No. 2 ranked fighter, the only thing that's up next for him is a title fight. Who else am I gonna fight? The guy I lost a razor close decision to and, in my opinion, I won the fight. All I want is a chance to prove that I'm the better fighter and I did that by beating the No. 2 [guy] Raphael Assunscao. I did my job. I did what I was supposed to do to get that shot."

After losing the belt to Cruz, Dillashaw believed he would get an immediate rematch with the champion, but was instead passed over for a trilogy fight between Cruz and Dillashaw's old mentor, Urijah Faber. Instead, Dillashaw had to rematch the last man to beat him (before Cruz) Raphael Assuncao. At UFC 200, Dillashaw won that fight via unanimous decision and appeared to set himself up for another go at Cruz. However, in the mean time, Dillashaw's former training partner Cody Garbrandt has been engaging in a war of words with Cruz which has piqued the champion's interest, but which Dillashaw sees as Garbrandt cutting in line to avoid fighting tougher opponents.

"He knows I'm able to beat him and that's a tough fight and he wants to get his shot. But he's just trying to skip the line ultimately. He's doing a smart job of it. He's performing. He's doing his job as well. He's knocking these guys out but then he's adding a little extra by talking some crap. He's turning it into the WWE and creating this whole drama that people want to see.... It just doesn't make sense how No. 8 can beat No. 11 and get a title shot and skip everyone."

But Garbrandt may indeed jump in front of Dillashaw for the next title shot. After his scintillating knockout of Takeya Mizugaki last weekend, Garbrandt called out the champion, and on the post-fight show, Cruz essentially agreed to fight him. Still, Dillashaw doesn't believe that is the fight the UFC will make.

"I just don't think there's any way of them denying it, denying me that fight. And if they do, it's a straight up robbery and this is not even a sport anymore. If they don't give me that title fight, they skip me and give it to someone else, this is turning into more of the entertainment factor drama than it is an actual sport, and I hope we stay on the side of continuing to be a sport. Let's really have the best fight the best. I think that's the way it needs to go."

This argument of entertainment superseding the sporting aspects of MMA is an ever present topic in the community but has recently been brought back to the forefront with the advent of many champions pursuing "money" fights instead of fighting the highest ranked challengers in their divisions, most notably with Tyron Woodley seeking a fight with Nick Diaz in leiu of No. 1 contender Stephen Thompson and with Michael Bisping taking on 12th-ranked Dan Henderson instead of numerous other middleweight challengers. Ultimately, fight promotion often comes down to making the fights the fans want to see, and trash talking serves to set this up in a more viscerally digestable way than quiet excellence.

Still, Dillashaw has no intention of changing the way he operates. Dillashaw was adamant that even if he is skipped over in favor of the trash talking Garbrandt, it won't change his approach.

"I just don't feel like I can do it. I'm not a guy that's gonna go out there and not be me and be fake and talk a bunch of crap... I'm trying to be as professional as possible when it comes to interviews and doing all the media and then being an aggressive mean son of a bitch when it comes to fighting."

MUST-READ STORIES

Temporary. Brock Lesnar was issued a temporary suspension for his two failed UFC 200 drug tests.

Numbers. UFC 202 prelims bring in 1.3 million viewers, a drop off from UFC 196.

Promises. Cody Garbrandt vows to break Dominick Cruz's jaw, calls him 'bitch-made.'

Laughable. Andre Pederneiras doesn't believe Conor McGregor has confidence in a rematch against Jose Aldo.

Curious. Li Jingliang tests positive for clenbuterol, temporarily suspended by NAC but not USADA.

EXTRA CREDIT READING

Money talks. John Nash of Bloody Elbow delves into the pay differences between MMA fighters and boxers and why boxers make more money.

MEDIA STEW

Here's that time Demian Maia almost killed Rick Story in the Octagon.

Colin Cowherd saying boxing is dead for the 5,000th time.

Super excited that this will be talked about again.

UFC 202 TTTHS

Double dose of TTTHS

LISTEN UP

Jack Slack

Heavy Hands

Severe

TWEETS

Condolences to the Bad Guy.

Bad times don't last, but BAD GUYS do.., pic.twitter.com/tTxC1zMwqn — Chael Sonnen (@ChaelSonnen) August 24, 2016

Hahaha u didn't even win — Nathan Diaz (@NateDiaz209) August 23, 2016

Good on you man.

Props @TheNotoriousMMA for making this inspirations dream come true..amazing moment today @ParadigmSMpic.twitter.com/dBVxSz36Jn — Gurdarshan Mangat (@saintlion) August 22, 2016

Pretty good gig if you can get it.

Made 2 million while cheating and knew he was gonna get tested. A quick in and out fuck you dude.https://t.co/7zHpsFHBm6 — Erik Jon Koch (@NEWBREED04) August 23, 2016

Because it's that time of the month #usada #limpio #ynuevo A photo posted by Yoel Romero (@yoelromeromma) on Aug 23, 2016 at 6:01am PDT

Khabib fans are relentless.

Hey @claressashields CONGRATS on winning gold!!! I'm so happy for you! #USA A photo posted by Dana White (@danawhite) on Aug 22, 2016 at 7:57pm PDT

#2ofamerikazmostwanted @diazbrothers209 A photo posted by natediaz209 (@natediaz209) on Aug 22, 2016 at 2:08am PDT

Would watch.

If I was running the @UFC this is the match I would be trying to make A photo posted by Joe Rogan (@joerogan) on Aug 23, 2016 at 10:49am PDT

Great session with Punk and the champ is back in Milwaukee @twooodley @teamrocbiggie @cmpunk @scottcushman @roufusport #roufusport #ufc #cmpunk #teamwoodley A photo posted by Daniel Wanderley (@danielswbjj) on Aug 23, 2016 at 6:38pm PDT

Puts the Olympics in perspective.

Still trying to beat my fear of the unknown at gymnastics! A video posted by Georges St-Pierre (@georgesstpierre) on Aug 23, 2016 at 8:19am PDT

Gus getting his own show.

Can't believe him, doing his job and stuff.

Looking for @dominickcruz after my fight but his ass was hiding behind the @foxsports booth talking that shit! @ufc @hansgutknecht A photo posted by Cody Garbrandt (@cody_nolove) on Aug 22, 2016 at 10:42pm PDT

FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Alex Ricci (10-3-0) vs. Jeremy Kennedy (8-0-0); UFC on Fox 21, August 27.

Leon Edwards (11-3-0) vs. Albert Tumenov (17-3-0); UFC 204, October 8.

Stephen Peterson (14-4-0) vs. Mark De La Rosa (7-0-0); Legacy FC 61, October 14.





TODAY IN MMA HISTORY 2012: Marcos Galvao defeated Luis Noguiera via elbows to win the Bellator Season Bantamweight Tournament at Bellator 73. Also at this event, Attila Veigh knocked out Travis Wiuff to win the light heavyweight tournament that season.

FINAL THOUGHTS

T.J. deserves the Cruz rematch, but I've got the feeling Garbrandt will be getting the next shot. Maybe they'll do T.J. vs. Faber in the co-main of that event at least.

That's it for today. Halfway through the week everybody. See y'all tomorrow.

If you find something you'd like to see in the Morning Report, just hit me up on Twitter @JedKMeshew and let me know about it. Also follow MMAFighting on Instagram and add us on Snapchat at MMA-Fighting because we post dope things and you should enjoy them.