UFC champ Dominick Cruz has surveyed the lay of the land in the bantamweight division. He likes what he sees in terms of future potential title challengers but in particular has an eye on undefeated contender Cody Garbrandt.

Cruz (22-1 MMA, 5-0 UFC), who most recently defeated Urijah Faber by unanimous decision at UFC 199 in June for his first title defense, sees a lot of possibilities for his career going forward. He’s discussed his desire for superfights at featherweight, but right now his home is the 135-pound division, and there’s numerous fighters coming for the belt.

Many consider former champion T.J. Dillashaw (13-3 MMA, 9-3 UFC) as the rightful No. 1 contender in the division, but Cruz said that’s not the fight he desires most. If he was able to contribute to the decision-making process for his next fight, “The Dominator” likes Garbrandt (9-0 MMA, 4-0 UFC), assuming of course he can get past Takeya Mizugaki (21-9-2 MMA, 8-4 UFC) in their scheduled UFC 202 bout later this month.

“I like Garbrandt because one, he’s Team Alpha-Fail, and two, he runs his mouth, he’s an emotional guy, he’s got a goofy part in his hair and a ton of tattoos so he thinks he’s tough,” Cruz told MMAjunkie Radio. “All of those things together make for an interesting fight. The fans get behind Cody. I’ve gotten a lot of tweets about him, he’s got a lot of fans because he’s been riding the coattails of Urijah Faber for a while now, so what he does is he goes, ‘Hey Faber, let me train under you, I’ll get all your fans and you can just send your fans over to me and I’ll just rep the name and let you pimp me out with Torque, and I’ll let you manage me and in this I’ll get all your fans.’

“He’s got the Faber fan base, he’s got his own fan base, he’s got his emotions, he’s got his whining and crying and talking about knocking people out. Between all that, I think he can make a pretty good run at running his mouth at me.”

Garbrandt, No. 8 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA bantamweight rankings, might be young in his career and in the UFC, but he’s been talking about a showdown with No. 1 ranked Cruz for quite some time.

The former boxer turned MMA fighter has displayed strong striking skills and knockout power thus far in the octagon. However, he hasn’t done it against a talent anywhere close to Cruz’s level. The UFC 202 bout with Mizugaki on Aug. 20, which is expected to close the FS1 prelims prior to the pay-per-view main card at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, will be a stern test for “No Love” but one that would shoot him up the rankings if victorious.

Cruz, 30, said his style of fighting would mesh well with Garbrandt, 25, should the matchup come to fruition. Both men are strikers, but Cruz relies more on volume and movement rather than Garbrandt’s style of pushing forward and looking for the knockout. The champ believes such a clash would play perfectly into his hands.

“I think people want to see it because he’s knocking people out, and I’ll give him that,” Cruz said. “But the good thing for me about that matchup is he’s had a lot of concussions, he knows it. He had to pull himself out (of fights). I could just add to the list of concussions he’s had and it would be a great night for me I think.”

Garbrandt didn’t take kindly to Cruz’s recent comments. He replied to Cruz’s threat to give him a concussion, claiming that if the fight were to come together, he certainly wouldn’t be the one getting knocked out.

“Concussions don’t change clarity,” Garbrandt wrote. “I see right through you! Like I said, keep my belt polished. I’m going to dice that melon head up of yours. When you wake up from being unconscious, I’m going to make you wrap the belt around my waist.”

The groundwork for an eventual Cruz vs. Garbrandt title matchup is seemingly in place, but the bout is hardly a certainty. Garbrandt must not only take care of business at UFC 202, but he has to avoid falling behind the likes of Dillashaw, John Lineker or Bryan Caraway in line for the next title shot.

Although all signs point to a matchup coming together in the future, Cruz said it might not go down that way, because in the end, the UFC and its matchmakers put the fights together, and it’s Cruz’s job to accept them.

“I’m never the type to pick my fights,” Cruz said. “The things is this: If the UFC heard everything I said, or they heard none of it, they could just sign me up on the dotted line and give me whoever they want. I’ve always just signed up and said, ‘OK.’ But if you’re going to give me a choice and ask me questions about the matchups I think fans and myself want to see, that’s what I’m talking about.

“This isn’t me trying to pick my fights. I will take anybody they put on that dotted line and I will beat them up because I’m the best in this division and I believe that about myself. But I’m talking about making money and that’s the matchups we’re talking about right now.”

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

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