Very few matchups in Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) truly have that feeling of being genuine disappointments if they don’t come together. For those who have been fans for the last 15 years, Dominick Cruz vs. Jose Aldo would fall under that category.
Each man is an all-time great and considered by most as the best that two separate divisions have ever seen. In 2022, they just so happen to both be competing at Cruz’s longtime home of 135-pounds.
Aldo, the former 145-pound Featherweight king of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) as well as World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC), made the drop in Dec. 2019 when debuting against Marlon Moraes. He’d suffer a razor-thin split decision loss before battling Petr Yan for the vacant title which he lost by fifth-round TKO (watch highlights).
Many thought that stretch may have been it for the 35-year-old Brazilian as a title threat. Yet, here we are and he’s currently riding a three-fight winning streak with brilliant performances over the likes of Rob Font, Marlon “Chito” Vera, and Pedro Munhoz.
As for the former multi-time Bantamweight ruler in Cruz, he too found himself in a similar position as Aldo after tasting back-to-back defeats for the first time in his storied career. “The Dominator” had been winless since 2016 until meeting Casey Kenney at UFC 259 in Mar. 2021 where he earned a split decision nod. In December of that same year, he’d continue getting back on track by crafting a vintage showing against the aforementioned Munhoz at UFC 269.
That same night, Yan, the current interim champion, would tweet out that he believes Cruz vs. Aldo is the fight to make next. Interestingly enough, today (Feb. 23, 2022), Cruz would sift through the Twitterverse to retweet and reply to Yan’s sentiment saying; “I agree with you, champ.”
Cruz has long expressed interest in making “the WEC superfight” a reality but hasn’t necessarily ever made a serious push for it. Responding so fashionably late could be a sign that he’s about to or in the process of doing so. And as fight fans, this is one fantasy tilt that we just can’t let get away.