Dominick Cruz has shockingly accused referee Keith Peterson of smelling like alcohol and cigarettes during his UFC 249 title fight with Henry Cejudo.
Peterson controversially stopped the UFC bantamweight title clash between Cejudo and Cruz with just two seconds left in round two at UFC 249.
Wow! With just a few seconds left in the second round, Henry Cejudo drops and stops Dominick Cruz ๐ณ Early stoppage or not? ๐ค #UFC249
He deemed that Cruz was not intelligently defending himself from a barrage of punches by Cejudo, which saw the referee halt the co-main event bout.
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Cruz has protested his stoppage defeat by slamming Peterson's incompetence in a scathing rant.
"That was an early stoppage, 100 percent - I'm positive of it," the former UFC bantamweight champion told ESPN on the UFC 249 post-fight show via MMA Junkie.
"I wish there was a way to keep these refs a little more responsible sometimes. The guy smelled like alcohol and cigarettes, so who knows what he was doing.
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"Definitely (he did). I wish they drug tested them. I know Herb Dean is good. He's one of the best refs. I immediately when I saw that ref I was like, 'Man, is there a way to veto a ref and get a new one?' I wonder that.
"I'm not a guy to make excuses," he added. "If you put yourself in the position for the ref to mess something up in a stoppage, then you do so."
The 35-year-old was making his first Octagon appearance in more than three years on Saturday.
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He's now on a two-fight losing skid having lost his last two contests to Cody Garbrandt and Cejudo.
And a rematch against 'Triple C' appears unlikely after the current champ retired from the sport following his title defence.
What's next for Cruz? Let us know what you think.
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