Issue 084

January 2012

Does UFC bantamweight champ Dominick Cruz have what it takes to hang alongside GSP and Anderson Silva as the elite of the pound-for-pound club?

Dominick Cruz may be one of the smaller UFC champions, but make the distinction now that the theory only applies to his fighting weight of 135lb. Cruz sails out each morning with major ambition coursing through his blood. Namely, the quest for respect in the mythical pound-for-pound status enjoyed by UFC champions Anderson Silva and Georges St Pierre.

With the bantamweight division emerging in the UFC, by dint of the merger with the UFC, Cruz is slowly becoming one of the faces of the fighting organization, called upon for charitable and community appearances. Let’s not forget, perhaps more importantly, that he has lost only once in 20 contests – to Urijah Faber, four years ago – in a fighting career soon to reach seven years old.

Cruz is smooth, ready with a smile, and seriously articulate. “It’s really a not an issue at all for me, I’ll do it any time I can, I feel it’s almost a duty to do so. When you get to any position where you can be an influence on others, try to help out any community as much as you can. That’s just a no-brainer if you ask me. I need to promote myself, too. I need to promote my brand, being me as a fighter, and I need to promote the UFC. It’s just a given, it’s just part of the sport, it’s something that has to be accepted, and I accept the challenge.”

There is stimulation, insists Cruz, in the sport having loud fans, happy to be critical of a fighter if they don’t believe he has it. “I think I’m driven by the fact a lot of people doubt, and I love doubters. I love proving doubters wrong. Yeah, I love that. I’m not going to say that about anybody. The bottom line is it’s just about how badly you want it, and how hard you’re gonna work for it.

“In my mind, the way it works is this: it’s a challenge to be in this situation at all. I have to say proudly that my biggest and toughest long-term personal goal, and I think it’s going to be the hardest to complete, is to be the number one on the pound-for-pound list.”

Most have Cruz in the top 10, which makes sense. “I’m like number nine or 10. That’s pretty far down the list. Rankings don’t really matter that much, but when you get to the very top of the pound-for-pound list it’s not arguable, nobody’s arguing with you.

“If you’re talking about GSP or Anderson Silva, you’re talking about the best pound-for-pound and there is no doubt in anybody’s mind. That’s the level I’m trying to compete these days, and I’m not there yet. I’m still growing and I’m still learning. But that’s a long-term goal of mine, and it’s something that’s going to be very hard to complete, but I believe I can do it. I just want to continue to do what I’ve been doing in the 135lb division, and be very dominant in the division, and continue just to stack up the wins and to defend my title and go out there and learn something new with every fight.”

He pauses for a moment to reflect on his trip to Toronto in May this year; a point in his life where he was finally able to sit alongside all the UFC champions on one stage. “It was unbelievable, there’s no word to describe it. It’s up there with going out there and winning a title. It’s up there with beating some of the top guys within your weight class. It was just unbelievable because I’m such a huge fan of the sport, that being up on stage with that group of guys alone, made you feel like you’re a man amongst men. Everybody that I was up there with is so incredible in their own sense. It was just an absolute honor to be there, for sure.”

While sitting among the champs may have seen like an amalgamation of all the hard work he’s put in over the years, Cruz always tries to remember his roots and how they’ve had a profound effect on him. The lessons he’s learned are clearly explained. “I wouldn’t say that it was Third World or anything like super-crazy hard, but it wasn’t like a rich area or anything like that. So, I’m not going to complain about it. When you grow up, you don’t realize whether it’s good or bad, rich or poor, you just grow up in it. I grew up in Tucson, Arizona. There was a lot of shooting out where I’m from because guns are legal in Arizona. It’s kind of like the modern-day Wild, Wild West. I didn’t have issues growing up there, it made me who I am, so I’m happy with it.” 

At school, Cruz tried everything: baseball, basketball, and he “loved” soccer. “I was definitely a late developer, without a doubt. I didn’t develop until late after high school. That’s when I finally grew into my body, grew into my mind, and just matured enough to be able to understand what I was capable of.

“I started out my serious sports development as a wrestler. I didn’t start fighting until I was about 19 years old, and that was right out of high school. What happened was I was working three jobs while going to school. I didn’t know what I was going to do. I worked at Lowe’s Home Improvements, I was a valet parker at El Conquistador in Tucson, and I was a part-time wrestling coach at Ambridge High School at one point. They were all part-time jobs. I had to pay bills, and I wasn’t making a lot of money fighting. I was just doing what I could to survive. One of the athletes I was coaching went to a local gym, just to try out MMA fighting, and he talked me into going with him one day. I went and never looked back.”

Cruz says it all started with the drive in him, stimulated by his mother. Cruz grew up in a single-parent family. His mother was a strong-minded woman. Once his biggest critic, she is now his biggest fan. “My mom was very hard on me. She made me do everything myself. I’m not saying she wasn’t there to help me, she was always extremely supportive, but always giving me a belief system to run with, always forcing me to make goals, always forcing me to think positively. If I said anything negative she was on me about it. 

“My mom is an extremely strong woman; she’s been through a lot throughout her life. She’s a single mom raising me and my brother, for most of our lives. I think that growing up without my dad, there were resentments there, but I channeled those into sports; into the things that I was doing. As I got a little older, I started realizing how right my mom really was. And that she was actually building me a belief system at a young age which stayed with me, and carried it over until I became an adult. My mom’s my biggest fan, she actually spars and does karate. Once I started fighting, she wanted to figure out what I was doing. I thought it was hilarious, and I thought it was awesome at the same time. It worked out really well.”

This injection of drive and self-fulfillment his mother lovingly provided him is evident today in Cruz’s fighting style. It is distinct; he can even fight while he flees. “What makes the style hard to understand is that I fight going forward and I fight when I’m going backward. So while it might seem like I’m fleeing, I’m actually back-pedaling and offensive at the same time. Also the angles that I hit, yes, are off-balance and that’s just because I’m trying to hit angles where there are openings on my opponent.

“So I’m reading what they are throwing, finding an angle to land the biggest punches that I can, and it just looks kind of crazy, I suppose. But my style has just been built over the years, with my coach Eric Del Fierro, and his style is striking. You’ll see similarities in some of my training partners; Travis Browne or Phil Davis.”

What Cruz also has in abundance is the ability to wear opponents down. “That’s basically one of the main principles of my style,” he explains. Yet despite his seemingly invincible style – evident in his recent fights where he’s dominated elite contenders such as Urijah Faber and Demetrious Johnson – Cruz believes everyone has weaknesses. “Everybody has holes in their game and that’s the thing. I know how to fight and how to keep my holes from being seen. The key to fighting is using what you’re good at, implementing it and making people fight your fight. When people figure that out, then you always look like you’re winning. 

“And I am winning because I am making people fight my fight. I’m having people fight the way I want them, putting them where I want them. I’m setting things up the way I want things set up and I’m putting people where they’re uncomfortable. Therefore, I can grind them out, make them tired because they’re uncomfortable throughout the fight. So for me, that’s the key, just making your opponent uncomfortable and putting them in positions in which you make them feel and look like they don’t know what’s going on.”

Cruz believes it was losing in sports, as a late developer, which taught him how to win, and strengthened the mental resolve he has today. “Losing built me into the person that I am today. Mainly because I had to figure out a way to keep coming back, even though I wasn’t winning. It helped me a lot with my mental strength, and helped me know that as long as I keep coming back and I don’t quit, something good is going to come out of it, as long as I’m working hard.

“I had a very tough time in a lot of sports. I was never the most athletic guy, I was never like the star on the teams, I was always the guy who was trying to work to catch up to the stars, to the guys who were the best on the team.”

Cruz accredits this underdog mentality to his strong mindset today. “I’ve been working on my mind, as much as I have on my body. I feel that it’s super important to build your brain as much as you build your body. Everybody is training hard, in shape, got the skillsets they need, they’re tough, they’ve got the physical attributes to become a champion once they get to the top five in the division.

“So what then separates you from that point on, is your brain and who shows up and performs on that night. The biggest part of performing on that night is where your brain is at, so absolutely, I’d have to say the biggest thing that’s changed in me is experience and the strength in my mind.” 

With such style, charisma, and mental toughness, who’d bet against Cruz becoming one of the great bantamweight fighters of all time?

Dominick Cruz: Q&A

What are your favorite fight moments?

Cruz: “Bruce Lee using nunchucks. He looked awesome using them. I watched a lot of kung fu movies when I was growing up. I was jealous that they knew how to do it and I couldn’t, because I’d try, but I’d just hit myself in the face (laughs). They’re hard to do.”

You’re a fan of Bruce Lee then?

“Come on, he was a genius in his own sense, without a doubt. He was the forerunner. He was the first person to really incorporate all the skills. He was basically the ultimate fighter.”

Is there a UFC fighter you tip for the future?

“One of my favorites right now is Alex Gustafsson. I just love how pretty his striking is, everything is so precise. Pin-point accuracy and everything he throws is just so powerful because he throws it with such perfect technique. He’s a beast, and it’s not like he doesn’t have takedown defense. If he can use his reach well enough and keep the distance, not get over-zealous, and not overcommit to the strikes, he can go somewhere.”

You live near the beach in San Diego. Do you surf?

“Yeah I’m close to the beach, and I like surfing because I’m horrible at it. It’s such a challenge and I’m out there just drowning the whole time. But it does help me to relax.”

What are your favorite fight movies?

“Fight Club, Gladiator, 300.”

Do you cry watching romantic comedies?

“I’m not a caveman, but I wouldn’t call myself a romantic either. I like to think I control it pretty well. I’m kind of the happy medium I think.”