Issue 125
February 2015
Dominick Cruz, the former UFC champion, talks up a title shot in 2015.
Winning the title back is important for me, not anybody else. It’s not important to my family or my teammates, it’s important for me. It’s a challenge for myself. As long as I am challenging myself then I’ll make big strides in life.
The most important person to impress is yourself, and that goes for everybody in life, in my personal opinion. And so that’s what I am doing. This is the challenge I have set for me, it’s my challenge alone. And with more hard work and a positive focus I expect a great outcome.
Anything I do I do it to the full extent. If I’m a married man I’m doing it well, If I’m a boyfriend I’m doing it well. If I’m working and fighting, pushing for the title, then I’m doing that to the best of my ability also. I’m looking for that title and I’m on the head hunt for it.
I’d love to fight TJ Dillashaw next, and get my belt back. While I was out I spent a whole lot of time working for Fox, breaking down fights, so I’ve been keeping a close eye on the entire division, especially all of those guys. I’ve seen enough to know that’s a fight I want right away.
Dillashaw’s performances in 2014 were familiar, of course. There’s no doubt that he’s looked at what fundamentals were working well for me and he’s clearly added them to his own style. I don’t think he’s taken anything of mine and made it his, but he’s took fundamentals of mine that made me a winner and added it to his own game.
If you look at any sport, we all do that. The only difference is that he actually came out and said that he’d taken some stuff from me, which is rare as most guys won’t admit stuff like that. But that also shows the kind of humility he has, and that’s actually a gift for him. There’s no animosity there with TJ at all. But he’s got what I want.
The reaction since my own last fight has been incredible. I expected some people to be saying, ‘Oh he’s not as good as he used to be. The injuries have slowed him down.’ But so far all I’ve read is, ‘He’s better than he ever was,’ which is nice. You can’t please all of the people all of the time, so to have such a positive response to my return after being out for so long has been great.
When I went into the Mizugaki fight, of course, I knew. I knew where I was at with my style and I knew that it was perhaps even sharper than before. Everybody was trying to predict how I would fight but I knew, Eric (Del Fierro) knew, and my teammates knew that I was back to where I needed to be. If I wasn’t I probably wouldn’t have come back at all.
Mizugaki was a tough fight, I knew he was going to be game and I prepared for a war. But it all came together for me on the night and I believe I made the kind of performance I aspired to myself, which in itself made a statement.
Being out for so long was tough. It was a real roller coaster and not just with me but with the people closest to me also. Over that period of time I really found out a few truths about those around me.
Now I know who the people are in my life who are there to support me. And I also know who was just there to benefit themselves.
A lot of people have made the cut and a lot of people haven’t. I lost a lot of relationships and that made the process even harder. But it also helped me to understand how strong some other relationships in my life are, and those are the ones I will cherish moving forward.
My close friends and family were there for me every day, but the others just couldn’t handle the ups and downs I was experiencing in my life, so they’re not there any more. That’s life.
But I’m ready to fight now. I’m happy to lobby for my shot at the title, I’m happy to fight another contender for sure. But it’s all about the belt, that’s why I’m here. I want the UFC championship back in my possession and I will fight whoever I need to fight to get there.
