After 20 years of fighting, ‘The Dominator’ is looking to hang ‘em up with one more fight. But who should he face?
Dominick Cruz is looking for one last dance before hanging the gloves up on a long and illustrious career.
Cruz has been fighting professionally since January 2005, which means his 20th anniversary in combat sports is right around the corner. And what better way to celebrate that marker than with a final fight? In a new interview with TMZ Sports, “The Dominator” shared his thoughts on how he’d like to wrap things up.
“I think I got a last dance, I got one last dance in me, just to go out there and go have fun,” Cruz said. “And when I say ‘fun’ I mean ‘fight to the bitter death and see what I have in me.’ The fun comes months after that, that’s where it gets to set in and okay, that was fun.”
“But I’m ready to walk into the fire again and see what life and death really looks like. And one more go at that would be a pleasure. So I’m building myself up, I’m at altitude, I’m out here in Mexico City [at the UFC Performance Institute]. Some of the best training I’ve ever had in my whole career.”
Cruz’s longtime coach Eric Del Fierro is the technical director for MMA at the Mexico PI and Dom has been down there helping the next generation of UFC stars get ready. It’s been two years since we last saw the former WEC and UFC bantamweight champion compete, and it may take a while for the right final fight to come together as Cruz is uninterested in accepting whatever is thrown his way by UFC matchmakers.
“I wanted to get after it this year but it’s not looking like a matchup’s getting negotiated exactly right the way it is,” he said. “There’s some guys out there that have looked really good. The whole division’s stacked so it’s been incredible to be a part of the division. But probably early next year is what’s going to work and line up.”
Cruz has talked up a rematch with Henry Cejudo but the obvious fight to make in our opinion would be Dominick Cruz vs. Jose Aldo.
Cruz and Aldo ruled the WEC at 135 and 145 respectively. Them fighting is a superfight straight out of 2010, and would be a nice step up in fight quality for Aldo, who continues to be matched like dogs—t against lesser-known up-and-comers. That tells you what the UFC is probably looking to do with Cruz too, except he’s turned down fights and sat on the bench rather than say yes.
What do you think, Maniacs? Who would you like to see Cruz wrap his career against? Let us know in the comments below!