Whether you love him or hate him, and most people fall into the latter category, Dominick Cruz is still the UFC bantamweight champion following a dominant victory over Urijah Faber at UFC 132.
The thing that really separated these two men was that unique fighting style that Cruz employs to frustrate his opponents. He is so unique in the way that he attacks that no one can get a good read on what he is going to do, though Faber did seem to be the first person to have any real success against it.
But how long will that style carry Cruz in mixed martial arts?
It’s great to be so different from everyone else, but eventually fighters learn to read the way that you fight and can attack based on some tendency that a fighter has.
Back when Chuck Liddell was in his prime, everyone thought that he was unbeatable because of that rabid punch that he threw to knockout all of his opponents. But as time passed, fighters caught wind of what to look for before he threw that punch and they were able to avoid. Suddenly Liddell was beatable for the first time ever.
Cruz’s style is more complex than Liddell’s, but the premise remains the same. There is going to come a time when his stamina will not be there and he will get caught with a punch or kick and fall in defeat.
Granted, Cruz is only 26 and has plenty of good years left in him. But it’s not as if he is dominating his opponents with a lethal punch combination; he is getting by with cardio. As a fighter gets older, the cardio and stamina is always the first thing to go.
Every fighter has a shelf life on top, but Cruz’s will be shorter than most people because he isn’t getting by just overpowering people in his division. He had to come up with a new fighting style to take control of the 135-pound division.