Cruz on UFC Tonight: Knee ‘Just Popped,’ Thanks Fans for Support

Bantamweight champ Dominick Cruz appeared tonight on Fuel TV’s UFC Tonight program and discussed his bum knee. Cruz originally sustained the injury during the taping of The Ultimate Fighter: Live in preparation for a title fight and rubber match with U…

Bantamweight champ Dominick Cruz appeared tonight on Fuel TV’s UFC Tonight program and discussed his bum knee. Cruz originally sustained the injury during the taping of The Ultimate Fighter: Live in preparation for a title fight and rubber match with Urijah Faber.

While discussing the injury, things got emotional:

I was going with a guy that I’ve trained with a million times, and we were doing 50 percent movement drills with each other, just doing shadow boxing. No contact…and on the mat I was on with my brace, I don’t know. I was moving and went to hit a pivot and the tissue just popped. I had some thoughts, but there was no way just moving…I’ve done so much more than that in [physical therapy] that I was just shocked that it happened.

From there, Cruz started to well up, “I had my couple days of crybaby time, where I allowed myself to be mad and be sad and be depressed…and you go through the ‘why me’ stage, but there’s no point, but there’s no point.”

He then began discussing the fans that have been sending positive messages his way:

You know how many tweets I’ve gotten? 60, 80, 100 tweets. It’s been non-stop since the news has been let out, and I’d say a good 95 percent of the tweets are good, uplifting…It’s like, if the fans out there could ever know how much that helps me, they’ll know right now. Thank you guys so much. I’m in a hurt spot right now, and the love I get from fans right now is keeping me up and keeping me optimistic. I am completely heartbroken to let down the people who wanted to see me fight.

From there, host and former fighter Kenny Florian brought in Dr. Robert Klapper, MMA‘s answer to James Andrews, to discuss what can be done to lessen knee injuries.

“In every other sport, there’s an off-season…when you’re fighting in the UFC, they go at it 90 miles per hour. You need to cross-train. That’s what needs to be done,” said Klapper.

Cruz is currently out for the foreseeable future. Shortly after his initial injury, the UFC belted Renan Barao as the interim champion. While he initially expressed interest in waiting for Cruz to set up a title unification bout, he has since set his sights on Michael McDonald.

The full interview with Cruz is yet to be posted, but keep an eye out on UFC Tonight’s official site here.

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