Dominick Cruz Ready to Silence Critics

Bantamweight champ honored by opportunity to introduce division to new audience

For some fight fans, the only organization that matters is the UFC.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship established themselves as the dominant force in the sport prior to the fall of Pride, and has since bolstered that standing in recent years. As it stands now, the Las Vegas-based operation is like Secretariat in the ’73 Kentucky Derby; they’re so far ahead of the pack that you think they’re running alone. But up until December, there was a collection of elite fighters competing outside the UFC Octagon.

Prior to their merger with the WEC, featherweights and bantamweights weren’t on the casual fight fan’s radar. Even now that the two divisions have become a part of the leading organization in the world, many fans are still unable to identify the marquee talents in those divisions.

That’s about to change for the bantamweight ranks this weekend, as champion Dominick Cruz defends his 135 pound title against his nemesis Urijah Faber in the main event of UFC 132. While the heated rivalry between the two is a major storyline heading into the weekend, Cruz prefers to focus on the impact this fight can have for the lighter weight classes and his fellow WEC alumni, rather than his rivalry with “The California Kid.”

“It’s just good for the division to have a fight like this. I’m excited for a big fight like this to happen for the division,” offered Cruz prior to departing for Las Vegas last week. “We need a top level fight like this to show what we can do, and more than anything (for me), to show what I can do. That’s what I’m excited for.”

Like many smaller promotions, the WEC had its fair share of loyal followers, with hardcore fans always extolling the merits of the sport’s mighty mites to the oblivious masses. But for many, the reality of the sport is that you haven’t really arrived until you’ve stepped inside the Octagon, a belief Cruz reluctantly accepts.

“Anybody who followed the WEC knows what we have to offer. But, I hate to say it, more people didn’t follow it than followed it from what I’ve noticed. It’s almost like the 135 and 145 pound divisions have so much to prove because even though we’ve been around all these years, putting in all this work, we really don’t have all that much to show for it.

“Because the UFC is such a dominating force, unless you fight in the UFC, nobody cares about what you’ve done. When I say that nobody cares, I mean the general fan base. Anybody who is very deep into MMA and anybody who is a full-fledged MMA fan knows what we have done — the 135 pound and 145 pound divisions — and they know how exciting the fights that the WEC put on (were). I’m talking about the general public; nonchalant MMA fans. They’re about to learn a lot about the lighter divisions.”

The introductory lesson to the lighter weight classes began in earnest at UFC 129. That night in Toronto, featherweight champion Jose Aldo and Canadian challenger Mark Hominick stole the show with their Fight of the Night-winning five round battle. It was featherweight 101.

This weekend, it’s time for bantamweight 101, with Cruz and Faber stepping it up a notch as the first former WEC fighters to headline a UFC pay-per-view event. There may not be a pair more deserving of the honor.

Throughout his time in the WEC, Faber was the face of the franchise; the charismatic standout who endured as the top draw even after he lost the featherweight title. In the midst of his title run in the 145 pound division, Faber handed Cruz the first and only loss of his career.

Cruz dropped to bantamweight following the loss to Faber and hasn’t looked back since. He’s won seven straight fights at 135 pounds, and reached the division’s summit in March 2010 when he defeated Brian Bowles to claim the belt he defends on Saturday.

Not only are Cruz and Faber a fitting pair in terms of their achievements in the cage, but the animosity between the two is befitting a grand stage as well.

During the build-up to their first meeting, Cruz took offense to not being featured on the event poster. To make his presence felt, he scrawled his signature on Faber’s face, over and over. The tension jumped off from there and endures to this day.

Though the 25-year-old defending champion tried to keep the focus of this fight on the impact it has for the division, he did allow his feelings about facing Faber to creep through for a minute.

“More than anything, it’s just going to be good to shut him up. I’m tired of hearing him talk, do you know what I mean? There’s really not much else to say. It’s just going to be good to shut him up and maybe humble him a little bit. I’m tired of his big head and his big talking.”

One of Faber’s main talking points has been Cruz’s style of fighting. The former featherweight champion has been critical of his opponent’s approach and he’s not alone; many fans and media alike have derided Cruz’s tactics in the cage.

The bantamweight champ is in constant, unconventional motion inside the cage. He flashes in, lands two, three, four strikes and backs out of range of his opponent’s attack, sticking to the strategy throughout, but never repeating the same pattern of attacks twice.

Some critics have labeled his approach “point fighting,” slandering his style as if his approach is a lesser form of offense. Cruz has heard the criticism through his rise to the top, and has a message for those that don’t like his style.

“I would say they’re not the ones getting punched in the face. They’re not the ones on the inside taking the damage; they get to sit on the outside and watch. The guys that are in there getting hit, punched, submitted, those are the guys who have to figure out a way to evolve this sport, and make it better, and more enduring, and make it into the sport that it’s going to be in the future.

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If the sport evolves the way the bantamweight champ thinks it will, those critics might not like what they’re going to see in the future.

“This sport is evolving, and as it evolves, people are going to find ways to inflict more damage, to take less damage. I feel that all these up-and-comers are the guys that are doing it. Guys like Jon Jones – “he’s not taking a whole lot of damage either” – Frankie Edgar, me, Jose Aldo, Mark Hominick. Those guys had a war, but there was more head movement in that fight than I’ve seen in any fight in the past three years.

“In my opinion, this sport is going to (get to a point) where people are going to be so good at takedown defense that all these fights are going to be standing. And if you go fight rounds on your feet, you’ve got to figure out a way to take less damage. If you’re planning on fighting on your feet the whole time, if you don’t — with four-ounce gloves — you’re going to be put to sleep.”

The bantamweight champ brought it back around to his approach in the cage, explaining that it’s only a matter of time before he knocks out this whole point fighting theory, and an opponent.

“You’ve got to elongate your career. On top of that, it’s just a matter of time before those punches add up on the person and you get that finish. That’s the general idea; I’m not going out there to point fight, I’m going out there to try and finish. But it’s all about landing that shot just right on the button.

“You watch this last fight with Sam Stout and Yves Edwards. That fight looked like it could have gone the full three rounds, because they’re both good strikers. They both landed a punch at exactly the same time, and it’s just that Sam Stout landed it on exactly the right spot. Yves Edwards landed the exact same punch, he was just on a different part of the head.

“Yves went to sleep, Sam walked away; that’s how close all these striking matches are. That’s how important it is to move your head and stay away from damage because all it takes is getting hit in that exact spot. It’s just a matter of time before I catch somebody in that exact spot and they go down the same way.”

Cruz credits the development of his frenetic style to copious amount of time spent in the gym, and borrowing a thing or two from the best of the best in the world of boxing.

“When it comes to stand-up and striking, I believe that it has to do with a whole lot of sparring, a whole lot of drilling, and definitely watching some of the top notch strikers in the world and trying to implement that into an MMA game.

“To me, you had to be able to move your feet. I wanted to steal that from the top notch boxers on the planet, and I wanted to steal their head movement, quickness on the combinations, and their counter movements too. That was something I felt I could steal from boxing, implement it into MMA, and their striking style would work in MMA because of that.

“That’s what I’m trying to do with MMA, and it’s worked so far. I’m still trying to perfect it, I’m still trying to get better with it, but in the near future, I just want to continue to improve.”

It has most definitely worked thus far, bringing Cruz to a defining moment of his career. Not only does he get the chance to avenge the lone loss of his career and finally settle things with Faber, but Saturday night’s fight is also marks the realization of a life-long dream.

Every fighter who enters this sport hopes to one day have the chance to star on the biggest stage of them all; to be the last man to walk to the cage, championship gold wrapped around their waist. Cruz has that opportunity this weekend. While he admits the magnitude of the event greater than anything he’s experienced, he’s only worried about one thing at this point.

“The way that it feels just to be given this opportunity, there’s no words to describe it. All I can do is be excited for it. When you hear that, there literally aren’t words to describe it. It’s almost an overwhelming thought and feeling.

“I’m just trying to keep everything under control, focus on the task at hand, and go out there and take care of business. Go out there and kill. That’s what I’m ready for.”

Saturday night is all about teaching for the bantamweight champ; teaching a new audience about this exciting division, and teaching his nemesis a lesson in humility.