Can we all agree that Dom “The Decisionater” Cruz was overrated?

He's the BW GOAT, and one of the best of all time across all weight classes.

DiazSlap said:
Other than that, that razor thin victory over an angry Dillasnake which could have gone either way.
Click to expand...

You're even trying to talk that fight down lol. At least understand the context of that one.

TJ was in his prime, fighting regularly and looking like the best BW ever at the time.

In the 5 years before fighting TJ, Cruz had literally fought for 1 minute. The rest of that 5 years was pure injuries.

Dude then rolled out of the hospital bed, with 2 years since that 1 minute fight, and danced rings around TJ for 5 rounds to beat him and get his belt back. That's a GOAT performance.
 
Plenty of people in the MMA space have him as BW GOAT. As with all things, that’s arguable, but at worst, you’d have to be insane or just a hater to rate hin lower than 3.

A four title defense streak that included Joe B, Faber, and DJ. Vacated due to injury, and then came back and won it again.
 
This is a false narrative. And this is all because Garbrandt is losing. Well we need to stop judging fighters off the present or association with other fighters

I felt Cruz was great but I also feel he is one of the most injured fighters ever. At the height of his career he had several knee injuries and surgeries that took him out of the title picture, out of fighting in general for over 3 years iirc

And then for him to come back after all of that and take the belt back from Dillashaw was INCREDIBLE. Regardless of how close the fight was and how their careers transpired since
 
rjmbrd said:
Dom legitimately destroyed his body using the unorthodox style he created

2011 - ACL tear
2012 - 2nd ACL tear
2014 - 3rd ACL tear
2015 - Groin tear
2016 - Plantar fasciitis
2018 - 4th ACL tear

We can confirm if you have great cardio, its possible to confuse and frustrate opponents by doing constant skip-hops latterly and jerking around at wild angles.

A consequence of that is you are rarely going to be healthy enough to fight and you will destroy the ligaments you need to be in the sport.

Dom is a legend and an interesting character, but he was out of action years at a time, I don't see how his credentials hold up against other true greats who fought consistently. His style was a really bad failed experiment - thats why we don't see others emulating him.
Click to expand...
Dillashaw certainly tried to emulate him. And I think Dom’s credentials hold up just fine: 10 ranked wins, 2 title reigns, 4 defenses in the first reign and 1 in the second. What BW has better credentials?
 
Pequeño Corey said:
A four title defense streak that included Joe B, Faber, and DJ. Vacated due to injury, and then came back and won it again.
Click to expand...

And when he came back to win it again, he had literally fought for 1 min in the previous 5 years, and that 1 minute was 2 years prior. And then he beat the guy who was head and shoulders above everyone in the division at the time and who people were starting to call GOAT.

I feel like a lot of people overlook or just don't know about the circumstances for how Cruz fought TJ.

Even the way he beat him was nuts. So many injuries, 1 min exp in 5 years, and the dude still comes in and dodges 300 out of 430 of TJ's strikes and beats him in an insane paced 5 rounder.

I think it's one of the most incredible performances of all time.
 
ninja boot said:
He made the best of the timeframe and opposition he had to deal with. What exactly was he supposed to do?
Click to expand...

This. You can only judge people based on whom they had available to test them (or so I am assured by Fedor stans) and for a long time there, not only could nobody beat Cruz, barely anyone could lay a finger on him. No, he was never a big finisher, but damn he made it look easy.
 
Absolutely overrated coasting off split decision wins over flyweights. No one fight is that impressive, it’s all accumulation. Other 135ers have had much more impressive fights with longevity
 
JudoThrowFiasco said:
No, he's definitely in the debate for best BW of all time; completely fine if anyone has Merab above him but Dom is not overrated in any sense
Click to expand...
Agreed with all that. I have no problem with someone saying merab having a better career than dom when merab career is over o think he will get more respect.
 
DiazSlap said:
His bet win was a decision vs the manlet of all manlets, Mighty Mouse, when he has a big size advantage.

Other than that, that razor thin victory over an angry Dillasnake which could have gone either way.

In the booth, Cruz often times mis-uses big words trying to sound more intelligent than he is.

Its hard to think of him as he thinks of himself, as an all time great.

Yes the injuries and what ifs but even better all that, he was decisioning people with all that crazy dancing.

What am I missing?
Click to expand...

No
1750110746014.png
 
DiazSlap said:
His bet win was a decision vs the manlet of all manlets, Mighty Mouse, when he has a big size advantage.

Other than that, that razor thin victory over an angry Dillasnake which could have gone either way.

In the booth, Cruz often times mis-uses big words trying to sound more intelligent than he is.

Its hard to think of him as he thinks of himself, as an all time great.

Yes the injuries and what ifs but even better all that, he was decisioning people with all that crazy dancing.

What am I missing?
Click to expand...

You covered a lot of ground.

What did Cruz do to you?
 
rjmbrd said:
Dom legitimately destroyed his body using the unorthodox style he created

2011 - ACL tear
2012 - 2nd ACL tear
2014 - 3rd ACL tear
2015 - Groin tear
2016 - Plantar fasciitis
2018 - 4th ACL tear

We can confirm if you have great cardio, its possible to confuse and frustrate opponents by doing constant skip-hops latterly and jerking around at wild angles.

A consequence of that is you are rarely going to be healthy enough to fight and you will destroy the ligaments you need to be in the sport.

Dom is a legend and an interesting character, but he was out of action years at a time, I don't see how his credentials hold up against other true greats who fought consistently. His style was a really bad failed experiment - thats why we don't see others emulating him.
Click to expand...
Lol what? Willie Pep did that stuff in boxing and has over 200 fights.

Cruz just has bad knees.
 
xhaydenx said:
And when he came back to win it again, he had literally fought for 1 min in the previous 5 years, and that 1 minute was 2 years prior. And then he beat the guy who was head and shoulders above everyone in the division at the time and who people were starting to call GOAT.

I feel like a lot of people overlook or just don't know about the circumstances for how Cruz fought TJ.

Even the way he beat him was nuts. So many injuries, 1 min exp in 5 years, and the dude still comes in and dodges 300 out of 430 of TJ's strikes and beats him in an insane paced 5 rounder.

I think it's one of the most incredible performances of all time.
Click to expand...

Yea man I’ll cosign all of that. He also defied ring rust. Dude comes back after an almost 3 year layoff like a demon and absolutely smoked Mizugaki early in the first. That shit was wild.
 
BFoe said:
Dillashaw certainly tried to emulate him. And I think Dom’s credentials hold up just fine: 10 ranked wins, 2 title reigns, 4 defenses in the first reign and 1 in the second. What BW has better credentials?
Click to expand...

This is his entire UFC run:

2011: 2 fights
2012: 0 fights
2013: 0 fights
2014: 1 fight
2015: 0 fights
2016: 3 fights (loses title)
2017: 0 fights
2018: 0 fights
2019: 0 fights
2020: 1 fight (bullied & KO'd)
2021: 2 fights
2022: 1 fights (murder KO'd)


The guy legitimately never fought. I also index:

- never fought Barao, who was clearly the best in their prime
- got out classed by Garbarndt
- got wrecked by Cejudo
- most important ranked win is a controversial decision with TJ

Beating Faber in two sparring session decisions is solid, but ultimately not a big deal. Barao spectacularly TKO'd him.

Most of the WEC guys Dom beat all would become flyweights (DJ, Jorgensen, Benavidez) and were hilariously undersized to Dom. He was still getting decisions over those guys, too.

Dom is a legend for being a fun and notable name in the lighter weight divisions, but has nowhere near the skill, consistency or even strength of schedule of 'all time' names in the division. He barely fought anybody, and when he did, he lost at least half the time.
 
Dr. Rose said:
Yeah, but can I still hate him for being an obnoxious, pseudo-intellectual prick, right?
Click to expand...

hate for being obnoxius is a bit too much, i find his character dislikeable and annoying too: i think he is an actual prick irl but this doesn't change the fact that as a fighter he used to be among the bests.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
1,268,437
Messages
57,531,891
Members
175,741
Latest member
Minouthecat

Share this page

Back
Top