The Dominator Strikes Twice

By: Joe Unger

Dominick Cruz came back from a long layoff to shock the world before. Can he do it again?

Former UFC Bantamweight Champion Dominick Cruz | Courtesy: bjpenn.com

Dominick Cruz is an interesting case. He’s a walking conundrum in the world of MMA. On one hand, he’s easily in the mix for top 5 greatest Bantamweights in the history of the sport. His herky-jerky style, pairing unorthodox footwork with beautiful feints and double leg blasts out of nowhere, has worn down and confounded some of the best fighters in the world. On the other side, Cruz might end up being the greatest case of “What-if” in MMA history. Cruz, once hailed as the king of 135, has dealt with injury after injury, robbing him of a consistent competitive career and leaving Bantamweight wide open to other challengers. After a successful defense of his belt in 2011 against Demetrious Johnson, Cruz was forced to vacate due to nagging injuries, and the fear he may never be able to fight again. This was just the start of Cruz’s long and unfortunate medical problems.

After avenging his first loss against him; Cruz was supposed to fight his longtime foe Urijah Faber one last time after the Johnson fight. They were even selected to coach against each other on The Ultimate Fighter. A few months into 2012 though, Cruz was forced to pull out due to a torn ACL. In an effort to repair his broken ACL, doctors used a cadavers ACL to help with the recovery. However, his body rejected the transplant, thus sidelining Cruz for even longer. With this, questions arose over whether Cruz could come back the same with his old style, if at all. He was kept out all of 2012 and 2013 as a result of these injuries.

2014 rolled around, and Cruz was slated to make his long-awaited return against the Interim champ Renan Barao, who was on an absolute tear. This time though, Cruz injured his groin, and was forced to pull out of the fight and vacate his 135 pound crown. Finally, in late September that year, Cruz made his triumphant return, taking on perennial top 10 bantamweight Takeya Mizugaki and beating him down in a way no one had done before. Mizugaki, known for his crafty veteran presence and tenacity, was a tough out for any fighter. But Cruz made it look easy; as if he had never left. After the fight, Cruz was announced as the next challenger to then champ TJ Dillashaw, the beginning of a heated feud. Tragedy struck again, as Cruz tore his other ACL just a few months later, sidelining him for all of 2015.

Finally, in 2016, after over a year of trash talking, Cruz and Dillashaw finally faced off. Again, Cruz looked like he hadn’t lost a step, and he traded blows with Dillashaw in a fantastic back and forth fight and earned back his belt via a split decision victory. Cruz fought twice more that year, completing a rubber match against Urijah Faber, before dropping his belt in a shocking upset to rising star Cody Garbrandt. It was only Cruz’ second loss ever, and his first in almost 10 years.

Then, the injuries starting piling on again. Cruz revealed he had plantar fascia tendinitis in the lead-up to the Garbrandt bout. Following that, Cruz was forced to pull out of fights with Jimmie Rivera (Broken Arm) and John Lineker (Shoulder), keeping him on the sidelines through all of 2017-2019. As Cruz healed, he watched as the landscape of 135 change. His once vanquished foe TJ Dillashaw left Team Alpha Male, became their public enemy number one, beat Garbrandt for the belt, before knocking him out a second time. New contenders like Peter Yan, Aljamain Sterling, and Cory Sandhagen rose. Garbrandt tried to go down to flyweight, only to get knocked out by Henry Cejudo and test positive for EPO. Cejudo leaned into his god-awful cringe persona, went up to 135, and took the vacated belt; seeming fit to only want to face former champions and ignore all the young contenders. Former featherweight god Jose Aldo made the drop to 135, lost a weird decision to actual Krillin from Dragon Ball Z Marlon Moraes, and then was somehow granted a title shot. A global pandemic happened, in case you haven’t heard, which upended the entire landscape of not just MMA, but sports and the world at large. Aldo was forced to pull out of his fight, and Cruz, sitting on the sidelines, waiting for his moment to come back, got the call. Which leads us to now.

Cruz is facing a mega uphill battle. Henry Cejudo has Olympic level wrestling, the worst trash talk in MMA, incredible speed and sneaky power; and as shown from his fight with Moraes, grit and toughness that can’t be taught. Despite the veneer of cringe, Cejudo is a tough out for any fighter. He’s taken out both the greatest flyweight of all time in Demetrious Johnson and knocked out arguably the greatest bantamweight in history in TJ Dillashaw, and proved it wasn’t a fluke with his TKO of Moraes. He’s on as hot of a streak as you’ll find in MMA. Adding to this, Cruz has to deal with a 4 year layoff, his history of injuries, and his age. Cruz is now closer to 40 then he is to 30, and he’s been in the fight game a long time. Is he up for the challenge of a fighter the caliber of Cejudo? Will he be able to get in his patented knee taps and double legs against a fighter with a much lower base and a 90% takedown defense? Can he utilize his 5 inch reach advantage and in and out stinging style against an opponent who’s unafraid to come forward relentlessly? This is a title fight that has a million question marks around it; almost all of them focused on Cruz. Can Dominick Cruz continue to build upon his legacy, and perhaps cement himself as the greatest bantamweight in UFC history?

Cruz is no stranger to adversity. He came back from his first loss to Faber better, and he came back from his last injuries better too. Cruz is known as one of the most studious and erudite fighters in the game, part of what makes him a great color commentator. His breakdown of opponents is second to none, as is his unique style of cerebral trash talk. But Cruz has never faced odds like this before. Standing before him is a giant (in a metaphorical sense, Cejudo is only 5’4!) mountain to climb; a two division champ and one of the most accomplished people in the history of combat sports. Can The Dominator rise again, and reclaim his throne? Maybe. One thing about Cruz; he certainly has a shot at UFC 249, and you can’t count him out. Cruz at his best is a style built to frustrate a fighter like Cejudo. For all the things Henry does well; he’s not great with lateral movement and eats a lot of shots, and does his best work in phone booth range or when he can hold you down. A cardio machine with constant movement, hard to anticipate feints, and slippery as hell grappling like Cruz is a bad match-up for the King of Cringe.

But that’s the Cruz we remember; not necessarily the one we’ll get. Can Cruz overcome his injuries, age, and layoff to go back to his old ways? We’ll find out May 9th.

Follow @UngerJos and @_MMA_News_Now_ on Twitter for more great MMA content!