A Hole in Cruz's Game (Anyone Else Notice?)

[Bend NvR Break]

If there's one weakness to Cruz it's that you can time up his movements like Faber did in the second fight multiple times and catch him with a big shot.

Of course this much much easier said than done.

I've seen him do this a lot in fights. He throws these really wide arm punches like he's throwing a baseball or something. Often times multiple (lefts and rights, one after another). He's very vulnerable whenever he does this but he's gotten away with it for so long.

We saw the same sort of situation in McGregor/Aldo in which Aldo swung wide against McGregor and McGregor caught him with a straight left. Of course McGregor is an above average boxer in MMA so instead of backing out or simply trying to block, McGregor countered him.

Cruz is a very good fighter but every time I see this I just almost cringe. He's good in a lot of areas but this is a hole in his game that could be exposed by a good counter puncher.

Do you think this could bite him in the ass? If I was Garbrandt, I'd sure be paying attention to this tendency.

I just like to mention that Aldo caught and busted McGregor open with that shot.

 

[Threetrees]

KORMAN is correct, what Cruz does makes it really hard to hit his head clean, yet at the same time everyone goes for his head anyway and ends up missing badly. The better way to do it is to block Cruz's punches into a clinch, then throw back at him when he can't move because he's being held. This does open up the wrestling & takedowns for Cruz, but he's not a strong top position guy like GSP or Khabib so it's not terrible. Option 2 is quit head hunting and bang the body. Block or eat Cruz's punches, he's not going to knock you out unless you're Mizugaki, and just keep punching & kicking him in the body till he starts doing something about it, then chop his legs and go back to the body. Once Cruz is hurt to the body & legs, he can't dance around the ring and move his head as much, and that's when you start going for his head.

He specifically holds his hands down to deter kicks to the body and legs - when TJ went to legs without proper set up, he got caught more than he should have and either taken down or countered

And bodyshots require moving forward, no one can do meaningful volume bodywork moving backwards and Cruz has some of the best timed and set up counter takedowns in the game. Dude's a serious puzzle, he's aware of his flaws and while he's for sure working on them I think his immediate answer was just to add more and more tactics

 

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If only Cody was smart or with anyone other than TAM. They still have no idea what to do against Dom.

Green letters? What happened to blue?

 

[still]

We saw the same sort of situation in McGregor/Aldo in which Aldo swung wide against McGregor and McGregor caught him with a straight left. Of course McGregor is an above average boxer in MMA so instead of backing out or simply trying to block, McGregor countered him.

horrible comparison. cruz sticks his head out to bait his opponent but he tucks his chin. aldo led with his chin up. he microfeinted to set up a bomb but he made a HUGE amateur boxing mistake (partly from being emotional and underestimating conor). you typically NEVER lead against a southpaw w/ power at the early parts of the round/fight when theyre fresh without a proper set up or some timing switchup.

you learn this in amateur boxing. typically the lower the level of amateur boxing, the greater the advantage a southpaw has bc a fledgling amateur boxer likely has minimal experience against lefties not to mention the natural tendency for a southpaw to keep their foot on the outside (hence right hook beats left jab and left cross beats right jab but not vice versa unless the right handed boxer is more experienced).

that being said, cruz has serious skills and i cant criticize him bc i never fought an mma fight and have no clue about his type of unorthodox style. still, i think he will one day get caught like silva even though cruz clowns around less.

 

[Drake]

Green letters? What happened to blue?

I'm evolving.

 

[TheRuthlessOne]

If only Cody was smart or with anyone other than TAM. They still have no idea what to do against Dom.

I been giving him hints on twitter

 

[Reign009]

Thanks for posting this! This is exactly the one I was looking for and the one I was talking about in my second post here. I looked for more gifs but couldn't find any good examples.

He looks like some sort of hunchback in there swinging like that.

 

[Agnawedbone]

Lol you completely misunderstood the McGregor/Aldo fight. Throwing wide punches had literally nothing to do with it. He countered a straight right feint and the left hook wasn't wide or sloppy at all.

Learn something mma before you start a thread, please.

 

[Threetrees]

If only Cody was smart or with anyone other than TAM. They still have no idea what to do against Dom.

That's not really true
Both Faber close to his prime (II) and Joseph Benavidez (both times) gave Cruz all he could handle. Benavidez giving up height and reach fought him to a split, and Faber had 4 rounds in their second fight (IIRC) that were close, even though he still lost him - and he's probably the least equipped top level alpha male guy to do anything against Cruz

The issue isn't that they don't know what to do against Dom, Cruz's style really isn't THAT unique and it's not infalliable - it just comes down to execution, and for any criticism I can muster against Cruz his preparation and execution in fights is always near flawless

 

[GOD...frey Jones]

yeah this is what I was talking about when I said sloppy striking

Thanks for posting it

When you look at it with the wisdom of hindsight, man he's set up nicely for a counter knee or head kick from Faber as he throws that right.

Cody has spent his whole life in a boxing gym. If he comes with a solid game plan and sticks to it, I can see him catching Dom.

 

[ArtOfDrowning]

Cruz is open for body shots. And head kicks when he is ducking down to throw those punches.

Easier said then done but there are ways to land on Cruz. I would like to see someone like Lineker try it. Or TJ maybe in rematch.

Everybody is head hunting against Cruz instead of going to the body, which is there to be hit.

 

[ColombianFist]

Hard to say. Cruz's footwork is so amazing that even when he is open he finds a way to sneak out of trouble.

 

[Thesnake101]

That's what I always noticed in his fights with Faber (2 & 3) and against TJ, he likes to duck down and throw his looping shot, which leaves him open, but he always manages to avoid getting hit with something significant because he's fucking fast at moving away once he's done throwing.

Cody has the speed to catch him though, but he's too reliant on his hooks in the pocket, so I don't think he'll be the one making Cruz pay for that. He has the speed and power to do it, but I don't think he he has the skill.

 

[Threetrees]

Cruz also has the added advantage of being one of the rare guys to treat a fight like a game rather than a fight. You can see it clearly in the TJ fight in rounds 3,4 and 5

A lot of exchanges went
Cruz initiates, TJ counters and wins the exchange backing Cruz up to the fence, Cruz explodes off fence with winging hooks that don't land clean and resets - on first glance (and that's all judges get) it LOOKS like Cruz had the last word of the exchange and did the most damage, but in reality it was TJ who landed the cleaner harder shots in the middle. It's just part of what makes Cruz a special fighter (not saying he should have lost that fight, just giving examples)

 

[billharford]

I always thought he was just throwing weird shit to keep people of balance. Like the poster above said, he's very aware of his positioning, so he's never been tagged doing it yet. Will be interesting to see if it's something Cody can exploit, or if he ends up looking just as mesmerized as Faber did in the last fight.

 

[Drake]

I been giving him hints on twitter

Haha, is he getting mad at you?

"YOURE NOT MY COACH BRO I'LL FUCK YOU UP!"

That's not really true
Both Faber close to his prime (II) and Joseph Benavidez (both times) gave Cruz all he could handle. Benavidez giving up height and reach fought him to a split, and Faber had 4 rounds in their second fight (IIRC) that were close, even though he still lost him - and he's probably the least equipped top level alpha male guy to do anything against Cruz

The issue isn't that they don't know what to do against Dom, Cruz's style really isn't THAT unique and it's not infalliable - it just comes down to execution, and for any criticism I can muster against Cruz his preparation and execution in fights is always near flawless

Well I wouldn't say that's exactly true either. Dom beat both of them clearly in all fights(minus first Urijah fight obviously). The split in the Joe rematch was horseshit. Such a clear 49-46 for Dom winning the first four.

It's pretty unique... He's literally the only one who fights how he does
(don't say TJ...similar but definitely different)
But yes I agree wit the execution & prep.

 

[Reign009]

Lol you completely misunderstood the McGregor/Aldo fight. Throwing wide punches had literally nothing to do with it. He countered a straight right feint and the left hook wasn't wide or sloppy at all.

Learn something mma before you start a thread, please.

I'm always trying to learn but I will keep posting and if I'm wrong, then I am. There are certainly worst posts and posters on here and you probably know that. It's been awhile since I've seen the fight but I can recall Aldo leading with his face in that moment the exchanged punches.

 

[Drake]

Cruz is open for body shots. And head kicks when he is ducking down to throw those punches.

Easier said then done but there are ways to land on Cruz. I would like to see someone like Lineker try it. Or TJ maybe in rematch.

Everybody is head hunting against Cruz instead of going to the body, which is there to be hit.

Dom would be content with them going for the body. Makes it even easier to get his takedowns.

 

[Threetrees]

Well I wouldn't say that's exactly true either. Dom beat both of them clearly in all fights(minus first Urijah fight obviously). The split in the Joe rematch was horseshit. Such a clear 49-46 for Dom winning the first four.

It's pretty unique... He's literally the only one who fights how he does
(don't say TJ...similar but definitely different)
But yes I agree wit the execution & prep.

Its different in MMA, but not really unique in combat sports - that style is as old as black and white boxing film is. Cruz was just one of the first guys to understand turning and strongside/weakside angles in MMA. DJ, TJ, Holloway, Aldo recently all apply a lot of the same tricks just with their own variations to match their attributes and styles, Anderson in his best technical clinics (like against Murray) used some of the same tricks except he's obviously slower and much heavier. He's a pioneer of it in MMA, not the sole owner - and I'd argue if you subtract the wrestling (which is brilliant) not even the best at it. I think his take on it is the most complex though, just in terms of variety of approach which I think is to make up for the fact that he's not the explosive guy out there (especially not now after glass knee)

And I had Dom winning against Joe 49-46, but that wasn't the point I was making. Watching that fight, and watching it again recently - I never got the sense that Joe couldn't beat Cruz with adjustments, I just got the sense that Cruz is a hard guy to adjust too. Those are different ideas, alpha male does have some insight on tactics that work against Cruz imo - more so than other camps because I don't think it's an easy thing to pick up on unless you spar with a guy like him OR a guy who has been in there with him.

 

[Reign009]

you should fight him and expose this clown.

I'm certainly not saying I could kick his ass and I made it pretty clear that I think Dom is an incredibly talented fighter. I'm just pointing out something I noticed and being critical.