On Sunday, Jan. 17, the UFC hosted UFC Fight Night 81: Dillashaw vs. Cruz from the TD Garden in Boston.
In the night’s main event, the promotion’s bantamweight champion, T.J. Dillashaw, put his belt on the line against former titleholder Dominick Cruz. Dillashaw rose to the top of the division while Cruz battled injuries and was forced to relinquish the belt. Dillashaw captured the belt at UFC 173 with a fifth-round stoppage of Renan Barao and has since defended the belt twice. Cruz had fought just once in the last four years, earning a 61-second knockout of Takeya Mizugaki at UFC 178. The 30-year-old, who held the title in both the WEC and the UFC, had not tasted defeat since 2007, but had struggled with multiple knee injuries.
The co-main event of the evening featured a lightweight match-up between former Bellator MMA champion Eddie Alvarez and former WEC and UFC titleholder Anthony Pettis.
The 13-fight event kicked off Sunday with five preliminary card bouts streaming live on UFC Fight Pass at 6 p.m. ET. Four additional preliminary card bouts aired on Fox Sports 1 at 8 p.m. ET, with the four-fight main card taking place at 10 p.m. ET, also on Fox Sports 1.
For the full results of the event, click here.
Above is live video of the event’s post-fight press conference which kicks off approximately 30 minutes after the main event between Dillashaw and Cruz comes to a close (courtesy of the UFC).
Anthony Pettis vs. Eddie Alvarez
Travis Browne vs. Matt Mitrione
Ross Pearson vs. Francisco Trinaldo
Chris Wade vs. Medhi Baghdad
Tim Boetsch vs. Ed Herman
Maximo Blanco vs. Luke Sanders
Ilir Latifi vs. Sean O’Connell
Charles Rosa vs. Kyle Bochniak
Rob Font vs. Joey Gomez
Francimar Barroso vs. Elvis Mutapcic