UFC UFN 81 Plays

When you take a look at Dominick Cruz’s career history, you have to admire his 20-1 MMA record, but you also can’t help but notice that all his notable wins have come against either Flyweight’s or fighter’s who don’t have the power to hurt him standing up…

What’s interesting about those wins is that Benavidez, Mighty Mouse, McCall and Jorgensen were only fighting at Bantamweight because a Flyweight division didn’t exist at the time. Cruz was much bigger than all those guys and he used it to his advantage by outwrestling them.

Dominick Cruz has been labelled as an elite striker, but the reality is that he struggled to outstrike Urijah Faber and much smaller opponent’s in Demetrious Johnson and Joseph Benavidez. His footwork is effective to some extent because it enables him to stay elusive and catch his opponents with unorthodox combos and strikes, but it also comes at a cost… The biggest cost being the amount of energy that it takes to maintain his style of fighting. Dominick Cruz tends to slow down after the second round of every fight and you will often see him take big deep breaths after completing certain combos and footwork sequences. This is not because Cruz has bad cardio, but more down to the fact that it takes a massive amount of energy to maintain his style of fighting. Cruz cannot sustain his footwork and movement for 25 minutes without gassing out, so he needs to use his wrestling to secure top position in order to conserve his energy. This is where this fight gets real interesting, because TJ Dillashaw is a very strong wrestler, who has NEVER been taken down in 10 fights in the UFC. TJ is also very strong on the ground with very good scrambles. Cruz struggled to control Flyweight’s on the ground, so I find it hard to see how he’s going to be able to control Dillashaw, who is much bigger and much stronger than anyone that Cruz has fought in the past. If Cruz can’t get Dillashaw to the ground, he’s in big trouble and I believe Dillashaw’s strong wrestling and elite takedown defence are one of his biggest keys to victory in this fight.

The other weakness in Dominick Cruz’s fighting style is the fact that he keeps his hands low. This style carries certain benefits such as being able to secure underhooks quickly to defend takedowns and it also helps you see strikes coming a lot sooner, but keeping your hands low also makes you a lot easier to hit and Cruz gets hit ALOT. Like I said earlier in the article… Cruz is labelled as a masterful striker who is very elusive, but he’s actually very easy to hit, it’s just that none of his previous opponent’s have had the power to hurt him standing up. TJ Dillashaw absolutely has the power to hurt Dominick Cruz and I believe there’s a very good chance that TJ wins this fight by knockout or at the very least hurts Cruz in a way that we’ve never seen before.

One of the reasons why Cruz slows down so much, is that he wings his punches and misses a large percentage of the strikes he throws. His winged punches and missed strikes use up an enormous amount of energy and whilst they may help him setup some of his more cleaner strikes, they also tire him out, which means the strikes that he does land don’t carry that much power. TJ Dillashaw fights at a very high pace and he’s constantly coming forward. I don’t believe that Dominick Cruz has the power to back TJ up or the cardio to keep up with him for 25 minutes. TJ Dillashaw lands more strikes per minute than anyone else in the UFC and lands almost double the amount of strikes per minute that Cruz does.

Dominick Cruz has said that he believes that TJ has copied his style, which is true because Dillashaw used to mimic Cruz in training when Urijah Faber and Joseph Benavidez were in fight camps preparing to fight Cruz. Benavidez and Faber fought Cruz 4 times in total, which means that Dillashaw has had experience breaking down Cruz as a fighter in 4 full training camps. I believe that this gives Dillashaw a significant advantage in this fight, because he has had a high level understanding of Cruz’s strengths, weaknesses and fighting style for a long time.

Can Dominick Cruz take TJ down?

It’s possible, but TJ has NEVER been taken down in 10 fights in the UFC…

Can Dominick Cruz control TJ on the ground?

I seriously doubt it… Cruz failed to control Flyweights on the ground and TJ Dillashaw is a very strong wrestler with excellent scrambles.

Can Dominick Cruz outstrike TJ?

Cruz is labelled as an elite striker, but he’s simply not as good as TJ Dillashaw. TJ is faster, more technical and more powerful and he also lands almost double the amount of strikes per minute than Cruz does.

Can Dominick Cruz win inside the distance?

Cruz only has 2 wins inside the distance in 11 fights in the UFC. One of those finishes was against Brian Bowles, who couldn’t answer the bell in the second round due to a broken hand. That means that Cruz has only finished one of his opponents in 11 fights in the UFC. It’s possible that Cruz could beat TJ by knockout or submission because anything can happen in MMA, but TJ is extremely durable and extremely well rounded, so I personally believe that it’s very unlikely that Cruz will win this fight inside the distance.

Can Dominick Cruz outwork TJ Dillashaw?

Dominick Cruz has questionable cardio, whilst TJ Dillashaw has some of the best cardio in the UFC. TJ also lands almost double the amount of strikes per minute than Cruz does and takes the centre of the Octagon in fights, whilst Cruz likes to fight on the outside. There’s no way that Cruz will be able to outwork TJ Dillashaw…