When Dominick Cruz steps into the Octagon to do his thing, something special happens. The fleet-footed bantamweight ruled the 135-pound ranks of both the WEC and the UFC until a nasty series of knee injuries put his career on the shelf for the better part of three years.
While it was certainly an unfortunate turn for the San Diego resident, “The Dominator” stayed on his hustle and forged a bulletproof mental game that allowed him to make an impressive return to action when he starched savvy veteran Takeya Mizugaki at UFC 178 in September 2014.
In the aftermath of his win in Las Vegas, Cruz appeared ready to reclaim his place atop the bantamweight division, but another knee injury would force him to the sidelines once again.
Nevertheless, throughout all his trials and tribulations on the fighting side of his career, Cruz has used his time away from the cage to flourish in another avenue.
The former champion has become one of the premier analysts in the MMA game, and his work behind the Fox Sports 1 desk is proof of that notion. He approaches the analyst side of the fight with the same cerebral style he’s used throughout his career at the highest level of the sport.
The insight he provides on fight night is top-notch. We corralled Cruz to get his take on the action coming up this weekend at UFC 187.
While you are working the pre- and post-fight shows this weekend for Fox Sports 1, you have also been involved in a multitude of shows for the network. Are things as busy as they seem for Dominick Cruz these days?
I really enjoy doing this kind of work, and it has been a learning experience. It’s been just another step in my life for me to evolve. Everything in my life happens for a reason, and I’m going to choose this chapter to continue my growth. That’s the way I look at it. It’s a job and it’s work, but thank God I have Fox giving me work because I can’t make money fighting.
We all know that if you aren’t making money prizefighting, then you better have a job somewhere to bring money in. And if it wasn’t for Fox, then I would have to go get a job somewhere around San Diego because everything is different when you are hurt the way I am. I look at this as a must-have job.
Having an analyst role on television comes with a wide variety of requirements. One of the biggest is being able to deliver quality information in a manner that is easily digested by the masses. During your time behind the desk, you’ve shown the ability to provide indepth analysis and insight, all the while still speaking in terms the casual fight fan can understand. Was this a major goal in your initial approach to the job?
To share information in a way that is easy to understand is something I strive for, but it’s also kind of something I’m just able to do. I really believe God gave me a gift to do this because I really had no other option.
I blew my knee out, and there went my form of income. It was sink or swim in this situation, so I got to work. I’ve put everything I can into getting better. I’ve approached this with the same championship mindset I used in fighting. I just put on a different hat and used that same intensity to learn how to break down fights.
I remember when I was coming up and I brought this style analysts didn’t have a clue at beginning to explain. So they just called it weird and awkward when it was neither of those things. Now, I’m in the position where it doesn’t matter what the style is; I know how to break it down.
I’m a professional fighter who can do every element of mixed martial arts, and whenever a new style comes in I can break down every aspect of it. Instead of fighters coming up and having their styles called weird or whatever, I’m glad I can be there to be able to analyze them and call things what they really are.
Let’s turn our attention to the action this Saturday at UFC 187, and we’ll start with the main event bout between Anthony Johnson and Daniel Cormier for the vacant light heavyweight crown. The details regarding how this fight came to be have been well-documented, and it’s hard to deny the fact the absence of Jon Jones is something that is hanging over this fight.
You also have Cormier coming off a title loss to Jones—the first of his professional career—and Johnson having the chance to rise to championship status despite being released from the organization several years ago.
What do you think is going on in both men’s heads as they are heading into their showdown on Saturday night in Las Vegas?
I honestly don’t think redemption or any of those other things are on their minds right now. Daniel and Rumble are just thinking about going out there and fighting the man in front of them. That’s the thing about fighters people don’t really understand.
When we are getting ready for a fight, we try to keep things as basic and bland as possible for our brains. You shut out everything that doesn’t matter and only focus on the things that do. And if I’m D.C. or Anthony, the only thing I’m thinking about is the style of the fighter that is going to be in front of me.
People’s opinions or people saying the winner of this fight won’t be the true champion because they didn’t beat Jon Jones…none of that really matters. All that matters is Cormier knowing Rumble Johnson throws heat, and he’s gonna want to take my head off. He has a good right high kick but stays pretty stationary.
On Johnson’s side he’s thinking about D.C. having good head movement and strong underhooks, so he’s going to have to keep my elbows in. Things like that because they are worried about the fight. That’s it.
The co-main event at UFC 187 will feature the long-awaited bout between middleweight champion Chris Weidman and No. 1 contender Vitor Belfort.
This is an interesting situation because this fight was supposed to happen on a number of occasions, but Belfort backing out after the Nevada State Athletic Commission banned TRT and Weidman getting hurt twice has kept this collision from happening.
All the waiting will be over on Saturday night, and what is it like for these fighters to have to go through the start, stop then start again process?
That’s part of the fight game. Look at the positions I’ve been in. I was supposed to fight like three different times, but I had to pull out due to injury. That sucks, but I can’t just give up because I happened to get injured again. I had to keep my mind strong, and then I came out and won in my return fight. These guys are thinking the same way.
Like I said, none of that other stuff matters. None of the past injuries or the dates that were set and fell apart matter to these guys right now. The only thing that matters is they are fighting now and doing what it takes to stay healthy, peaked, sharped and perfect on fight night.
That is what they are thinking about right now, and I can guarantee you they don’t care about any of the other things that came before. I guarantee it.
Vitor Belfort is obviously well-known for his striking, but Chris Weidman has some underrated skills in that department in his own right. They both have strong ground games as well, so how do you see this fight playing out stylistically?
I see Weidman taking Belfort down and Vitor wanting to close his guard because he’s very confident in his black belt in jiu-jitsu. I see Weidman being able ride out Vitor for a long time because of the habits Belfort has with his Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
Now, that’s just saying Vitor believes in his ground game that much that he stays on his back, keeps closed guard and tries for submissions from his back, while Weidman is punching and controlling the top position. If things play out this way, I don’t see Vitor having a lot of success.
If Vitor comes out and does what he’s done with a lot of people, then he will strike and strike and strike, and that is where he’ll have the best chance to beat Weidman. Then again, there are times when Vitor gets taken down where he’ll use submission attempts to get back to his feet.
He’ll go for an armbar to create space, and then after he misses the armbar his feet come back down to the hips, and he kicks you away, turns into a single and then stands up. This is the type of stuff Vitor must do in this fight. He has to rely on some of his wrestling at least to get up because Weidman will take him down at least once.
If Vitor closes his guard and accepts that takedown then Weidman is just going to keep punching, and the chances of him being able to submit Weidman are much slimmer than him being able to knock Weidman out in my opinion.
Moving down the card, let’s talk about Donald Cerrone. “Cowboy” is currently riding a seven-fight winning streak and has consistently looked better each and every time out during this current run. What have you seen in Cerrone’s game as of late as opposed to the Cerrone from just a few years back?
More than anything I believe Donald just found his peace. He found out the way his own brain works is what I see. He knows all of the sports and activities he does before his fights are coping mechanisms.
Some people stay quiet and do nothing, but Donald Cerrone goes and uses adrenaline throughout every single thing he does. He uses it to cut weight, stay mentally sharp and to feel larger-than-life. He uses it as a tool to get ready for the fight that is coming up. He does it to keep his mind off how much he needs to fight.
It’s just another day to him, and that’s how he makes peace with it. He knows he’s going to have to get in there and fight, but he’s still going to go wakeboarding or jump a dirt bike. He takes out the importance of the fight in his brain and makes it just another fun thing he’s doing. That’s what I think has really changed for Cerrone.
He found peace and also narrowed the biggest hole in his game in his wrestling. He’s worked on. He didn’t just try to make his other areas stronger to avoid that part of his game; he brought in wrestlers that could manhandle him. He took his lickings, and now he’s a little bit better at it. Fixing his wrestling and getting his mind together are two of the big things that have made all the difference in his style.
There is a heavyweight fight on the card between Travis Browne and Andrei Arlovski, and this fight is interesting for several reasons. First and foremost the winner could be poised to get the next shot at the heavyweight crown, but these two fighters are also very familiar with one another due to being former training partners. In your experience, what is it like to compete against someone you have trained with and know on a personal level?
For some people it’s a good thing, and they like to be friends with the person they are fighting because it gives them this feeling of a safe zone or peace because they are friends with the person. As far as Travis and Arlovski go….I’m not sure exactly. I don’t know what they know. They may have trained together a while ago, but who knows how long ago that was or how the training sessions went?
We also don’t know how their respective camps went. Therefore training together a few years ago could mean very little other than maybe remembering some details about who was stronger or faster in sparring. Getting a little confidence one way or the other is the only thing I really see having to do with their past training in this fight.
In your opinion where does this fight sit in the run for the next shot at the heavyweight title?
I think the UFC is dying for stars in the heavyweight division and a lot of other divisions because we are doing so many shows. If the winner of this fight got the next title shot, I wouldn’t be surprised or upset because they both bring it.
We really need to get some more title fights going. We need as many title fights as we can get just as we need as many promising potential contenders as we can get as well. The winner of this fight getting a shot wouldn’t bother me one bit.
Let’s close things up talking about that exact scenario in the flyweight division. There are a pair of high-profile fights at UFC 187 as Joseph Benavidez faces John Moraga to kick off the pay-per-view portion of the event, and John Dodson faces Zach Makovsky in the showcase fight on Fox Sports 1.
With everything being so closely contested in the 125-pound ranks, does it come down to the fighter who wins the most impressively on Saturday night getting the next crack at Demetrious Johnson’s flyweight strap?
I think that’s very possible. I mean why not? Demetrious has been dominating everyone he’s faced and has pretty much cleaned out the division, so anyone they can scrape up at this point is sounding pretty good. I could definitely see the fighter who wins in the most impressive fashion getting the next title shot or maybe another title shot for some of the fighters involved.
Duane Finley is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. All quotes are obtained firsthand unless noted otherwise.
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com