The first time I saw Dominick Cruz Fight Live was in 2010 during the last WEC event, and that left me a feeling of deep sympathy for his opponent.
The poor guy. His name was Scott Jorgensen and he had won five fights in a row to get a blow to Cruz Coq. It was therefore a big fight for this reason, of course, but also because the WEC was finally closed and absorbed by the UFC. Here is a chance to introduce yourself to the UFC as a champion, for a moment someone. Everything he had to do was beat Cruz, a 25 -year -old arrogant player who had a way to talk about waste on his opponents, calmly explaining all the reasons why they had no chance of beat him.
Jorgensen was confident. A few days before the event, he told the assembled media that he was not worried about Cruz’s combat style and combat. He hadn’t looked at a band on him, he said. He didn’t need it. Everything Cruz did, Jorgensen told us, moved and released a heap. He would go right after this guy and overthrow him, he said.
When Cruz heard this, he shook his head. It was as if he felt almost bad for what was going to happen.
What I remember the most about this fight is the teammate and coach of Jorgensen, Joe Warren, shouting the same instructions again and again.
“Put your hands on him, Scotty!” He shouted with cages.
Scotty tried. But each time he walked, Cruz hit him in the face and then disappeared. Jorgensen stretched out and found only air. There was definitely something Striking it again and again, but no matter what he did, he couldn’t go back. He couldn’t even find it. It was like watching a man trying to fight a swarm of bees.
When Cruz came to the UFC after that as the first champion of the brand new Coqs Weight Division, it was as if he had always been there. He had this aura about him. As, of course, the title belonged to him. It was just and natural. His first two reigning defenses came against Urijah Faber and Demetrious Johnson. When they couldn’t beat him, you have the feeling that everyone better used to Cruz being the champion as long as he wanted.
It is how naive we were then. We had no idea of the kind of cruelty that the gods of the MMA had planned for the former “Dominator”.
If you are going to tell the story of Cruz’s fighting career now that he is officially called it left about a month before you are 40 years old, you can’t not talk about injuries. Here is a guy who fought 18 times in the first five years of his career and only three times in the next five. He torn his ACL, then his groin, then his other ACL. He broke his arm, threw his shoulder, then threw his other shoulder.
Towards the third time, he skipped his knee, Cruz said that the CEO of the UFC, Dana White, called him and told him that he should be the most unhappy person he has ever met . Cruz asked what he was supposed to do with this information. White told him that he didn’t know. Cruz didn’t know it either, but he knew he couldn’t just accept this.
His career had never been a question of luck, he said. So he had to continue to try, to come back. Whatever happens to him, he had to beat him.
He has never really done it. At least not for long. There was this time that he returned in 2014 in 2014 which cost him the COQ weight title of the UFC. Three years of his peak had just evaporated at the time when he was at the top of his game. Admittedly, the man had to have rust on him. But no, he showed back and immediately truck Takeya Mizugaki at the UFC 178. It took him 61 seconds to show us how much he was back. Three months later, Boom, another knee injury.
He came from that one too, of course. In the space of a calendar year in 2016, he recovered the title, defended it against Faber (once again), then lost it against Cody Garbrandt, who absolutely styled it in a way that We would never have thought possible. Garbrandt was there and locked between the blows. It was only the second time that Cruz was beaten, and it was shocking to see.
But do you know what he did then? He introduced himself to the post-combat press conference and explained in a very eloquent way What had happened in the fight. No excuses or complaints. He gave a detailed rupture of the loss, just as he had been doing for years as an analyst and commentator live for UFC events.
It was UFC 207. Cruz and Garbrandt were the co-printing event. The headliner was Amanda Nunes against Ronda Rousey for the Coq weight title for women from the UFC. Rousey took a bad blow and then disappeared from the sport. Cruz lost its title and then appeared to explain how and why.
He owed anyone, and when I asked him why he did it, I remember that he said it was for his own advantage. If he was not willing to admit his failures and watch them directly, he said, how could he learn what he needed?
There are a few different ways to see Cruz’s career. Is it the biggest, if in the history of MMA? All these years lost because of the injury. Who knows what he could have done if only his ligaments and his bones had better held together? Or maybe it’s a remarkable story of resilience. Life kept making him fall and Cruz continued to get up.
It’s probably both. Cruz has a darkness which is fundamentally out of its will. He will chat with you about anything. Just ask people who speak in microphones next to him. Such a man was never going to lie down and accept the many betrayals of his own body. He had To continue to come back. Whatever we can say else about Cruz’s career now that it’s over, let’s say that.
(Tagstotranslate) Dominick Cruz (T) Scott Jorgensen (T) UFC (T) USA TODAY SPORTS
