Dominick Cruz dares his fellow bantamweights to try to take the UFC belt from around his waist. He doesn’t foresee it going anywhere, he said, and believes he will run through all challengers who come for it.

“I cleaned out the division once already before I got injured,” Cruz told MMAjunkie Radio. “I had beat everybody. They started a new weight class at 125 pounds. A lot of guys dropped down because I had faced everybody at 135 at that point. Once I got hurt, it kind of put a blank in that area, and it allowed these guys to fight for it and fight to see who the next-best guy in the division is.

“I’m here to clean out the division. All these guys want to talk, but I don’t think any of them can hang with me. None of them. If I can’t clean out the division, then I want a big fight and try to bring the belts together at 145 possibly.”

Cruz (22-1 MMA, 5-0 UFC), No. 1 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA bantamweight rankings, most recently competed in June at UFC 199, where he defended the 135-pound belt for the first time in his latest title reign with a unanimous-decision win over longtime rival Urijah Faber (33-9 MMA, 9-5 UFC). It marked his 13th consecutive victory dating back to March 2007.

In the time since Cruz, 30, suffered his one and only career loss, he’s become champion of the now-defunct WEC organization, was the inaugural UFC bantamweight champion, and was the first two-time titleholder in divisional history after he regained the belt in January with a split-decision victory over T.J. Dillashaw (13-3 MMA, 9-3 UFC) at UFC Fight Night 81.

During his WEC and initial UFC title runs, “The Dominator” posted winning performances against the likes of Faber, Joseph Benavidez, current flyweight champion (and No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter) Demetrious Johnson, Ian McCall and others. When he went down with a serious knee injury in 2012, however, it began a period of several years in which Cruz was unable to compete consistently. That’s why he was forced to vacate the belt.

This year has been good to Cruz, though. He returned to action to beat Dillashaw and regain the belt, and he then went on to successfully defend it against Faber. Meanwhile, the rest of the division was evolving, and new contenders have emerged who weren’t in the fold when Cruz ran his weight class several years ago.

Cody Garbrandt (9-0 MMA, 4-0 UFC), John Lineker (28-7 MMA, 9-2 UFC) and Bryan Caraway (21-7 MMA, 6-2 UFC) have become relevant names who could challenge for the gold in the future. Naturally, all of them are targeting Cruz, something the champion said he finds amusing because fighters weren’t as willing to call him out during his first UFC title run.

“What it comes down to is understanding that coming back and doing what I did kind of pissed everybody off I think more than anything,” Cruz said. “You never heard any of these guys calling out any other 135-pounder in the history of the division. Much less, where were these guys talking while I was out? That’s the way I view this situation. I go, ‘Who was the last person to get called out at 135 pounds while I was injured the past four years analyzing on FOX?’

“I was begging for these guys to talk to each other so we could build a division even while I was hurt. They wouldn’t do it. Now I come back, I beat these guys up, and now everyone has something to say, everyone has an idea. I’m scared of everybody all of a sudden. I’m running from everybody all of a sudden. Everybody can knock me out, but nobody could knock out the other guys while I was gone. It’s just ironic. It’s weird how things work. I basically taught everybody to grow a pair and start running their mouth is what happened.”

It remains to be seen who will get the next opportunity to challenge Cruz. The champ said he has his eye on a potential move up to featherweight, though, in hopes of facing the champion of that division – be it current champ Conor McGregor or interim titleholder Jose Aldo – but it’ll take until at least the end of the year to determine an undisputed titleholder at 145 pounds.

That means Cruz will likely have to stay locked in to the bantamweight division for the time being, and if that’s the case, he said he will fight the highest-ranked opponent as he’s done all along.

“You look at the division, and I’m facing the best guys,” Cruz said. “Every time I fight, I’m fighting the next-best guy in the division, according to rankings.”

For more on the UFC’s upcoming schedule, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.

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