Dominick Cruz News

Tom Taylor - August 7, 2018

It’s crowded at the top of the UFC bantamweight division. Dominick Cruz, Raphael Assuncao, and Marlon Moraes all have legitimate claim to the next crack at UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw, and new UFC flyweight champion Henry Cejudo also has his crosshairs locked on the bantamweight king.

Tom Taylor - August 6, 2018

On Saturday night, in the main event of UFC 227, UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw stepped into the cage for a rematch with his arch rival, former champ Cody Garbrandt. In this rematch, Dillashaw once again knocked Garbrandt out, moving to 2-0 over the champ, and effectively killing their rivalry in the process. Now that the Garbrandt saga of his career has concluded, Dillashaw can look to forward to his next challenge. One of the most exciting options available in this regard is a rematch with former champion Dominick Cruz, who he lost a close decision to in 2016.

Drake Riggs - July 26, 2018

“I just got cleared by the doctor so I’m good to go. I’ll talk to [Sean] Shelby, I’ll talk to everybody. I’m on track though.

Drake Riggs - July 9, 2018

UFC 226’s super fight aftermath between new UFC heavyweight champion and former champions, Daniel Cormier and Brock Lesnar drew mixed opinions. One of the attendees for the wild night of action was another former UFC champion in Dominick Cruz who was calling the night’s action alongside Joe Rogan and Jon Anik.

Tom Taylor - June 13, 2018

Dominick Cruz has not fought since December of 2016, when he lost a decision to Cody Garbrandt and surrendered the UFC bantamweight title in the process. He’s hoping that will change soon. On Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour, Cruz explained that he’ll see a doctor on Thursday, and that, with a little luck, he will be cleared to get back to work soon.

Drake Riggs - May 15, 2018

Tis the season for super fights! Christmas is coming early this July as we get a colossal showdown between the UFC’s light heavyweight and heavyweight champions, Daniel Cormier and Stipe Miocic. Talk about a treat. Other super fights that have been up in the air recently are that of flyweight king, Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson vs bantamweight champ, TJ Dillashaw. Then of course, what would be the first ever female super fight pitting featherweight dominator, Cris Cyborg against bantamweight queen, Amanda Nunes. Featherweight…dominator…I like the sound of where this is going…

Tom Taylor - May 14, 2018

On Saturday night, on the main card of UFC 224, Mackenzie Dern picked up her second UFC win, submitting Amanda Bobby Cooper in the first round. At a glance, Dern’s win was incredibly impressive. As any one who followed the buildup to UFC 224 knows, however, the win was not without controversy.

Drake Riggs - March 27, 2018

The UFC’s 135-pound bantamweight division isn’t lacking any sort of talent. Especially when it comes at the top, as you could argue that the division has the highest level of combined talent out of any other division in MMA. Among those names is the often overlooked, Raphael Assuncao who is 10-1 in the weight class. That includes a 1-1 record against the current champion, TJ Dillashaw.

Justin Golightly - February 8, 2018

Demetrious Johnson versus TJ Dillashaw. The UFC flyweight champion fighting the UFC bantamweight champion in an ultra high level MMA double title fight. It’s a match-up that everyone has been clamoring for, but still some people aren’t in favor of it. Although, it’s easy to see why Dominick Cruz isn’t keen on the idea. If you count the WEC bantamweight title which the UFC absorbed, Cruz was the bantamweight king from 2010 until he was stripped due to injuries in 2014. A title he nearly immediately got back upon his return from Dillashaw himself. The very same title he wants back. “I think [the bantamweight championship] should be my next fight, but they play weird games where they want to give TJ Dillashaw an easier fight because he doesn’t want to fight somebody hard right after he won the title. He wants an easy fight. So, he wants to fight somebody that he knows he can keep the belt a little longer before he knows he gets a really hard fight, whereas I went TJ Dillashaw, Urijah Faber, Cody Garbrandt and then I lose the belt. Let’s go TJ. I beat you. Don’t you want to get that back? Stop going down and looking for little baby boys at 125. Silly Dilly, that’s what I call him.”

Drake Riggs - February 7, 2018

“I think that should be my next fight [TJ Dillashaw]. But…they(the UFC) play weird games where, they want to give TJ Dillashaw a little bit of an easier fight because he doesn’t want to fight somebody hard right after he won the title, he wants the easy fight. He wants to fight someone that he knows he can keep the belt a little longer before he gets a really hard fight. Whereas I go TJ Dillashaw, Urijah Faber, Cody Garbrandt and then I lose the belt.

Chris Taylor - January 28, 2018

Former UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt is down for a “easy money” rematch with Dominick Cruz. Cody Garbrandt is coming off the first loss of his professional mixed martial arts career against former teammate turned bitter rival T.J. Dillashaw at November’s UFC 217 event in New York.

Drake Riggs - December 13, 2017

It’s pretty easy to argue that injuries have been Dominick Cruz’ biggest rival throughout his storied career(Urijah Faber may have something to say about that though…). Cruz is one of the greatest fighters to ever step foot in the cage and the fact that he still can is nothing short of miraculous. He’s come back from broken hands, torn ACLs, a torn groin and is now recovering from a broken arm that forced him out of his planned bout with Jimmie Rivera for UFC 219. Fortunately, it sounds like this has been an easier road to recovery for Cruz than some of his previous injuries!

Tom Taylor - November 14, 2017

Former UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz has a long and unfortunate history of being forced out of fights with injuries. Earlier this month, the trend continued, as he was forced out of a planned UFC 219 scrap with Jimmie Rivera with yet another injury. Speaking to MMAJunkie this week, Rivera explained that, despite Cruz’s apparent fragility, he wasn’t particularly worried about this fight getting scrapped.

Chris Taylor - November 8, 2017

Former UFC bantamweight kingpin Dominick Cruz has been forced out of his planned UFC 219 fight with Jimmie Rivera due to a broken arm. MMAFighting’s Ariel Helwani recently broke the news on Twitter.

Justin Golightly - October 7, 2017

Demetrious Johnson is now hours away from his attempt to break Anderson Silva’s title defense record, forever cementing him in UFC and MMA history. Even before Johnson reached this peak in his career, fans and media alike have purposed the idea he move up in weight to create new challenges. He was even in talks to fight TJ Dillashaw, before deciding to continue on his at flyweight. The last time Johnson fought in a bigger weight division was coincidentally the last time he lost. It was against former bantamweight king Dominick Cruz. While Cruz has been praised for his own mind for the sport, he returns the favor when it comes to Johnson.  “When I look at [Demetrious Johnson] since we fought, the place he’s made the most leaps and bounds was in his mind. I think DJ had a lot of early-on doubts about how good he was or could be. As he dropped to this division, where he felt he was at his actual weight class, you saw his confidence change. You saw his words change, the way he promoted the fight change. Everything about him kind of changed. That’s just confidence. That’s just knowing he’s the champion and knowing he’s the best in the world at 135 pounds as well. It just changed his mindset.”

Justin Golightly - September 30, 2017

Jimmie Rivera is basically one fight away from gold, or at least that’s a good way to look at it. With a tidal wave of announcements last week, it was made official that Rivera will take on former bantamweight king Dominick Cruz at UFC 219. Fight fans sure are happy with the match-up, as well as Cruz’s return, but no one seems more pumped than Jimmie Rivera himself. “F-ck yeah. I am super shocked. I think the biggest thing was they must’ve gave [Dominick Cruz] something good, or they told him that’s the only way. I don’t know. I heard that he wanted to take the fight, which I was super surprised. I’m just happy; I’m happy he took it so I can go in there and whoop some ass. I’m super stoked. It’s the fight that makes the most sense right now. I got a five-fight winning streak, I’ve beat the best. It’s time to fight the next person that’s the best so I can get a title shot.”

Tom Taylor - September 24, 2017

On November 4, in the co-main event of the stacked UFC 217, UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt will attempt to defend his title against an estranged teammate in former bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw. This is, by all accounts, one of the biggest and best title fights in UFC bantamweight history, which is why it would truly suck if we lost it to injury. The good news, however, is that if either Garbrandt or Dillashaw is injured, former UFC bantamweight champ Dominick Cruz is ready and willing to step in. “I’m always training, I’ve been training this whole time,” Cruz said on a recent episode of UFC Unfiltered (h/t MMAMania). “For me, the title shot is important. I’ve earned that shot, I held the belt longer than anyone in this division and I help build the division.”

Tom Taylor - August 1, 2017

What does Conor McGregor have to do to defeat Floyd Mayweather? @UFCONFOX@DominickCruz breaks down next month’s anticipated mega-fight. pic.twitter.com/jok3YKOG9q — Rich Eisen Show (@RichEisenShow) July 30, 2017