UFC Preview: Five fights you need to see before Dillashaw vs Cruz

Get ready for the UFC Fight Night main event with these five fights featuring T.J. Dillashaw and Dominick Cruz.

On Sunday night, UFC Fight Night Boston is headlined by a huge Bantamweight world title fight as champion T.J. Dillashaw takes on former champion Dominick Cruz. To get you ready for the fight, we’ve prepared this quick guide for you – the Five Fights you need to see before Dillashaw vs. Cruz. Watch these five and you’ll be ready to analyze all the action on Sunday night. All fights are available at UFC Fight Pass, and when available, a YouTube embed is included here.

1. DOMINICK CRUZ vs JOSEPH BENAVIDEZ II, WEC 50

If you’re even a moderately new MMA fan, there’s a pretty decent chance you haven’t seen much of Dominick Cruz. If that’s the case, then this is the one fight to watch, as it is in many ways your prototypical Cruz fight. Here you see the footwork and movement that he’s known for as he quickly bursts to the inside, lands his attacks from odd angles, and then escapes. You also get his excellent defensive head movement on display here, plus his often overlooked wrestling game (more on that to come). At the same time, you see a lot of success from Benavidez, who manages to time Cruz well, plant his feet, and connect with some stiff counters as Cruz comes in. It’s not enough to get the win (personally I agree with the judges and had this 48-47 Cruz), but it’s the best anyone has ever done against the Dominator in the division. That makes it a good study for the tactics of both men.

2. DOMINICK CRUZ vs. DEMETRIOUS JOHNSON, UFC LIVE ON VS 6

First off, this is a good one to watch just because it’s so odd to see Bantamweight, pre-champion Mighty Mouse. But this is also a key fight in the Cruz catalogue, as it really highlights his wrestling. When people analyze Cruz, it’s always his striking that gets discussed, and that’s understandable. But the reality is that Cruz is a very good wrestler as well, and he’s superb and mixing those two elements together. When he’s not able to control the stand-up game the way he wants, he will switch gears and go for the takedown. It’s a brilliant strategy that both keeps opponents off-balance, and racks up points for the judges. He uses that strategy to great success here, getting outstruck at times by the wildly fast Johnson, then taking the smaller challenger down almost at will. I expect the takedown will be a huge part of his strategy Sunday night, and here’s a good look at that takedown game.

3. T.J. DILLASHAW vs. RENAN BARAO I, UFC 173

If Cruz vs. Benavidez II is the single must-watch Cruz fight, then this is the single must-watch fight for the champion. Watching early Dillashaw fights is almost pointless, as he has transformed so much under Bang Ludwig, and this is the fight where it all truly came together (his previous outing against Mike Easton is also stellar). This fight highlights Dillashaw’s combination striking, as he consistently confuses Barao and outlands him. It’s also worth a watch to be reminded of the amazing emotional scene at the end. But what’s interesting is that, while this is one of Dillashaw’s best performances, it comes against a very un-Cruz like fighter. Unlike…

4. T.J. DILLASHAW vs. JOE SOTO, UFC 177

Soto was an unlikely challenger and clearly is not at all at the level of Cruz (or Barao), yet this fight is fascinating for the success Soto has – more success than Barao has ever seen against the champ. You can chalk that up to the late switch in opponents for Dillashaw, but it’s also largely due to some excellent work from Soto. To start, he uses some nice head movement, particularly at the end of round 1. That head movement causes Dillashaw troubles – not a good sign considering what a master of movement he faces Sunday. Additionally, Soto is one of the very few men who has actively tried to take Dillashaw down. Now the interesting part is how the fight progresses. Because while he tries, Soto never score that takedown, and while the head movement initially causes some issues, the champ makes the needed adjustments and starts finding his target en route to a late stoppage. Moral of this one: there are parts of Soto’s game that may indicate some Cruz success, but the champion might have the needed answers.

5. DOMINICK CRUZ vs. TAKEYA MIZUGAKI, UFC 178

The latest fight from Cruz is a must watch, but it’s also a tough one to evaluate. On the one hand, this 16 month old fight is what passes for a “recent” performance when you’re dealing with Cruz – these are the only 61 seconds of fight time he has logged in over 4 years. On the other hand, it’s also a complete anomaly. Again, it’s this one fight in a four year sea of inactivity. Plus, it’s a bizarrely un-Cruz result. The last time Cruz legitimately stopped a fight was as a Featherweight back in 2008 – aside from the Mizugaki fight, no footage of a single Cruz stoppage win even EXISTS (at least that I have found).

Still, this fight gives two important takeaways. 1) Despite all his knee injuries, and despite adding some years in age, Cruz can still move. His footwork and ability to move about the cage was always Cruz’s most unique weapon, and that movement was still in evidence here. 2) In his time off, Cruz added an aggressive streak. The way he goes for the kill once Mizugaki is down is simply unseen in his WEC/UFC career, where he was much more inclined to fight smart and get the decision win. He goes after Mizugaki with a ground and pound fury here; if he brings that to the cage against Dillashaw, it’s a very different Cruz than we might expect. Last point about this fight is a question it fails to answer: Cruz’s gas tank. This was never an issue for Cruz in his title run, and his cardio brought him many of his biggest wins. Does he still have it after so much time away from the sport? We simply do not know, and this fight, impressive as it was, didn’t tell us.

Join us here at Bloody Elbow Sunday night for UFC Fight Night Dillashaw vs. Cruz live fight night coverage.