A Look Back at the Dominator's Illustrious Career
Former UFC Champion Dominick Cruz announced his retirement Thursday, in a heartfelt post on his social media. He stated “I gave everything I had and put it into preparation and training for this fight —focusing on my cardio and my body for the past year,” Cruz wrote. “But sometimes, the body just doesn’t cooperate. We look back at Cruz’s accomplishments and fights that fans will remember forever.
Dominick Cruz has a legendary resume and a more than certain Hall of Fame status one day. Unfortunately, due to his ongoing injury history, he could only compete 10 times in the UFC. Cruz was the inaugural UFC bantamweight champion and he defended his title successfully against Urijah Faber and Demetrious Johnson before he was forced to vacate the title due to a groin tear. In January 2016, He returned to action against T.J Dillashaw where he was able to successfully become a two-time Bantamweight Champion by split decision.
Cruz would go on to beat Urijah Faber once again which set up a showdown with at the time undefeated rising star Cody Garbrandt. That fight against Garbrandt will live in our memories forever. Even though it is thought as the best performance in Garbrandt’s career the final scorecards were all three to two showing just how remarkable Cruz truly was in his prime. Cruz would take four years off from fighting and return to face Henry Cedjuo as he looked to become a three-time Bantamweight Champion. He would lose the fight by controversial TKO as Cruz and his team aggressively protested Keith Peterson stopping the fight.
The former Champ would go on to win two straight fights against Casey Kenney and Pedro Munhoz setting up a title eliminator fight against Marlon Vera. Cruz looked incredible in the first three rounds before getting caught with a pinpoint head kick in round four. Resulting in that loss being the final fight in his career. Even with all of his injuries and time away from the sport no matter when Cruz would fight he always had a chance to win against anyone. His unorthodox fighting style will never be replicated and if he was able to stay healthy I truly believe he would be in the same conversation with the likes of Jon Jones, Demetrius Johnson, and Georges St.-Pierre.
