On today in 2011, Dominick Cruz settled the rating together with his biggest rival.
Many still regard ‘The Dominator’ to be the best bantamweight of all time, even when Merab Dvalishvili is likely to be closing that gap.
While his return to the Octagon in 2016 where Cruz reclaimed the 135-pound title is likely to be his most impressive accomplishment, it was his initial run within the promotion which showed that he was on one other level.
UFC 132 featured some remarkable highlights, including Chris Leben’s 27 second knockout over Wanderlei Silva and Tito Ortiz’s huge upset against Ryan Bader.
Nonetheless, it was the essential event of the evening that won fight of the night honors after Cruz kickstarted his title reign contained in the Octagon.
Dominick Cruz avenged his only loss by beating Urijah Faber within the UFC’s first bantamweight title fight
In his tenth pro fight, Dominick Cruz’s undefeated record would come to an end after he was submitted by Urijah Faber at WEC 26, kicking off a feud that many still imagine to be among the finest within the history of the game.
‘The Dominator’ would bounce back in style after moving down from featherweight and putting together a win streak that led him to the WEC title.
With WEC merging with the UFC in October of 2010, at WEC 53, Cruz defeated Scott Jorgensen to successfully defend his belt for the second time and win the inaugural UFC bantamweight championship at the identical time.
The primary UFC bantamweight title fight was a no brainer for the promotion with Cruz and Faber being two of the largest names within the division who were already rivals
At UFC 132, the second chapter of their rivalry played out but loads had modified within the 4 years since their first meeting within the WEC.
Faber still had plenty of success in a competitive fight that went the total five-rounds but this time around, it was Cruz that got his hand raised as his incredibly unique style proved to be an excessive amount of for ‘The California Kid’.
The UFC’s bantamweight division was off to an excellent start, though Cruz would defend the title only another time before being forced to vacate it because of injuries.
Dominick Cruz closed out his rivalry with Urijah Faber with a dominant showing of their trilogy bout
UFC 132 wasn’t the ultimate time that Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber shared the Octagon with each other.
In 2016, after Cruz had reclaimed the bantamweight title by beating Faber’s former student TJ Dillashaw, they were matched for UFC 199 where the champion made an announcement.
Cruz won all five of the rounds on two of the scorecards to shut out the trilogy and put their feud to bed in the end before hIS reign was ended by one other considered one of Faber’s former students, Cody Garbrandt.
Following UFC 199, the 2 former rivals have shared some respectful encounters through the years and put the past behind them, though ‘The Dominator’ will rarely allow anyone to beat him in an argument.