Daron Cruickshank Says It’s Nice To Be Free From The UFC

In an interview with Bloody Elbow, Daron Cruickshank spoke about being a free agent and his recent run in Rizin FF. Here are highlights:

On his fight at Rizin FF 1 in Nagoya, Japan: “I really enjoyed the fight, because I showed up. I was at my best, and that’s what you saw. The one ten-minute round was a little different, but I trained for it. As far as the jet lag, I stayed up for basically over twenty-four hours, got my body adjusted, and was fine there. I always wanted to fight with that type of rule-set. Being a fan when I was younger, watching Pride, watching Rampage Jackson, and all those old-timers go at it in that style, I always thought that [an organization with those rules] would be a good home for me.”

On being out of the UFC and working with Rizin: “It’s nice to have no handcuffs locking you down and, you know, it’s nice to be free. I’m comfortable right now where I’m at. I’m having a blast with the Rizin Fighting Federation. As far as the future, we’ll see, I might go back [to the UFC], I might stay in Japan. It all depends where the money’s at, but right now I’m happy where I’m at, and I’m glad to explore new ventures.”

On the differences between his UFC and Rizin runs: “I had a great run in the UFC, 13 fights, I was on The Ultimate Fighter, I feel like I made a great fanbase there, but when I was moving to Rizin, I didn’t want to bring the same exact Daron Cruickshank to Rizin, so I got to basically reinvent myself.”