UFC is Finally Back in Cruz Control

So, Dominick Cruz is, once again, the UFC Bantamweight Champion, with the prospect of a potential title defense with Urijah Faber on the horizon.

…what year is this? Did I fall asleep and wake up in 2010? If it is, I sure don’t feel like a G6…

As far as roads back to the Octagon go, no fighter has undergone the struggles that Cruz has. Sure, we’ve seen fighters suffer major injuries before, but how many fighters have torn their ACL, had surgery to repair it, had a second ACL surgery because their body rejected the replacement ligament, tore their groin, and then, after finally making it back to the UFC (in destructive fashion), tear the ACL in their other knee?

Nobody knows the troubles that Dom Cruz has seen, and if you do, then that sucks for you, dude.

It was as humbling an experience as any fighter should ever have to go through in their life. Cruz went from being the best fighter in his weight class, as well as one of the top Pound-for-Pound fighters in the world, to sitting at home with nothing, wondering if he’d even be able to fight again, if he was nothing more than just a washed-up, injury-prone former great, forced to sit by and watch the sport continue on in his absence.

It had to be rough for Cruz to sit on the sidelines, especially after a young, handsome conqueror showed up to usurp his throne, using many of the same techniques that Cruz originally brought to the sport, techniques that made him the best in the world.

Now, it’s not completely fair to say that TJ Dillashaw copied Cruz’s style and movement. What Dillashaw has blossomed into since entering the UFC in 2013 is much more than just a Kenny Florian “copy and paste” job of the San Diego based fighter.

Dillashaw, who started as a wrestler and rudimentary striker at Team Alpha Male, has cultivated a style that is extremely active and quite vicious, as his two fights with Renan Barao showed. Dillashaw shocked the world by beating Barao at UFC 173, finishing him with a head kick to become bantamweight champion. Then, to prove the first fight wasn’t a fluke, gave Barao an even bigger beating when they rematched on FOX last July.

Oh, and he also beat Joe Soto, but that fight wasn’t supposed to happen, so shhhh….

Even though Dillashaw had only defeated one top bantamweight before last Sunday’s showdown with the former king, the way that he beat that bantamweight was just mind-blowing to see. For 10 years, nobody had been able to solve the puzzle of Renan Barao. Nobody, not even Dillashaw’s former training partner, Urijah Faber, who tried twice and failed both times. Cruz had the chance to be the one to solve Barao at UFC 169, but he ended up pulling his groin instead.

The task was given to Dillashaw to complete, at a time when people thought he was good but nobody thought he was good enough to topple The Baron. Nobody, that is, except Dillashaw, his teammates, and his coaches, especially Duane Ludwig, the man given the most credit for Team Alpha Male’s success the year he was in charge. He developed a close relationship with Dillashaw and molded TJ into the quick-footed, aggressive kickboxer that made one of the best fighters in the world look like an amateur not just once, but twice.

Nobody could beat Barao, and Dillashaw made it look easy. He faced the best bantamweight fighter in the world, one who had ripped through 33 straight opponents without a loss, and made him look like just another fighter, like he didn’t even belong in the cage to begin with. That’s how good TJ had become.

But maybe the reason he looked so good was because the man standing across the cage from TJ in those fights really wasn’t the best bantamweight in the world. Maybe the best bantamweight in the world had been away from the sport, waiting to get healthy, waiting to return and take back what was rightfully his.

And, on Saturday night, he did.

The Fight Night Boston main event between Dillashaw and Cruz was an excellent one. It very rarely happens that a fight fulfills all the expectations we set for it but, on a night that saw Travis Browne defeat Matt Mitrione by poking him in the eye and sitting on him and Eddie Alvarez hug Anthony Pettis to death, we got to see two of the slickest fighters in the sport try to out maneuver one another for 25 minutes.

Most of the analysis we got before the fight was pretty spot-on about how these two champions use movement as part of their overall gameplans. Dillashaw is more offensive, overwhelming opponents with the volume and power of his strikes, while Cruz is more defensive, moving around his opponent’s strikes, making them miss and attacking with countershots.

Putting those two styles together gives you an idea of how the fight played out, with the question being if Dillashaw could outstrike Cruz and slow him down enough to put him away, or if Cruz still had the speed and agility to get out of the way and force Dillashaw into making mistakes Cruz could capitalize on.

It turns out that, yes, Cruz is just as quick and as agile as he’s ever been, expertly dodging TJ’s output for most of the fight, landing punches whenever he could and taking down the champ, who had previously never been taken down, multiple times.

Now, all five rounds were very close. Dillashaw threw a lot more strikes than Cruz, but Cruz connected on a higher percentage of significant strikes. Cruz took Dillashaw down in the first three rounds, but Dillashaw prevented anything from happening, getting back to his feet very quickly each time.

All five rounds were close but, in the end, two judges scored the fight for Cruz, giving him back the belt he never lost.

It’s been a long journey back to the title for Dominick Cruz. Over the last half-decade he has suffered, he has struggled, he has faced one hardship after another, but, through it all, he stayed mentally tough and knew that, if he could make it back, he would reclaim his throne and be the best in the world once again.

And he’s done exactly that, but he’s done it as a much wiser, humbler, and grateful champion than the one he was five years ago. Plus, all the fight commentary and analysis he did while he was recovering has made him much more outspoken and charismatic, which can only help his drawing power and marketability of the bantamweight division as time goes on, especially if we’re looking at either a rematch with Dillashaw or a trilogy fight with Faber in the future.

But, for now, all is right in the world. Cruz is back where he belongs, on top of the heap at 135, finally able to continue the career he had to put on hold and restart the march he placed himself on so many years ago towards becoming one of the greatest fighters of all time.

Let’s just hope that he isn’t as injury-prone this time around.

…what’s that? Cruz said he fought Dillashaw with an injured foot? He just fought and he’s already hurt?

Well, thanks for coming back champ. I’ll look forward to seeing your next title defense in 18-36 months. Stay loose.

Evan Zivin has been writing for 411 MMA since May of 2013. Evan loves the sport, and likes to takes a lighthearted look at the world of MMA in his writing…usually.