Cruz - "I am the best 135 lb Fighter. I was on a 3 year layoff, came back and beat TJ off the couch"

Who is the best ever at 135?

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quadrunner said:
It's not even close.

Tj may be more skilled, but as far as resume goes there is no way you can give it to TJ over Cruz.

MM, Faber and TJ are miles better than any TJ win. One is one of the best fighters ever, who even tho he is smaller was still an elite BW, one is a legend who paved the way for the smaller divisions and was always a staple in the top 10, and the third is TJ himself who Cruz beat when he was already past his prime and clearly not 100% after all of the injuries.

TJ's best wins are Cody, who is a flash in the pan and whose only great win on his record is an old past his prime Cruz, Barao who was severely overhyped because he ruled over a weak division while Cruz was injured, and assuncao who is a great fighter but never has been championship material even tho he is always a contender.

MM, Faber, and TJ > garbrandt, barao, and assuncao. No matter which way you look at it.
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They might have bigger names but they weren't better. MM is small and wasn't on the same level as his flyweight run, he improved a lot even from the Ian McCall fights. Cruz fought him way before that.

Faber wasn't ever better than Barao, Cody or Assuncao and the last time they fought he was old and had no business fighting for the title.

And the TJ fight was a controversial split decision. All of TJ's wins are dominant. Cody, Barao and Assuncao especially when and how he beat them are way better than Faber and MM wins. Barao was on top of a better division than its state before Cruz was injured. There was more depth and more exposure.

Is beating Robert Whittaker 4 years ago as good of a win as beating him now? Surely not. So bringing up the MM fight is ridiculous.
 
TJ stopped the guy twice that made Cruz look like a chump
 
Dbreiden83080 said:
He is not the best ever. Rogan really was disrespectful to him when he said that. Typical prisoner of the moment bullshit. He is great but he needs to do more. And Dominic can still beat him in my opinion.
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I don't think he beat him the first time, I also think Faber should have gotten the decision vs Cruz in the second fight. But what do I know?
 
TJ started his mma career 6 years later than Cruz. That plus Dom's injuries is why he improved more over the last years.
 
Its hard to make the argument that TJ is better than Dominick when Dominick has a win over him. & as he said, he came back from an injury layoff and beat him. An out of prime Cruz beat TJ.
 
Dbreiden83080 said:
He needs to win that rematch. Cruz and TJ are about the same age. And Cruz matches up well with TJ. Lets not forget before the injuries Cruz was 19-1 and overall he defended the belt 5 times WEC and UFC. He also is a 2 time champ like TJ, and got it by beating TJ in what was IMO, the best comeback fight of all time in MMA..
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This. TJ is great but being great right now doesn’t make you the greatest of all time. I got Cruz in the rematch in another close fight.
 
jojoRed said:
Beat? Lol it was a split decision.

TJ has better wins than Cruz at this point and has a stronger overall resume.

Id pick TJ in a rematch aswell.
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Dom beats him again.
 
I had tj winning that fight and was pretty shocked when cruz got the w tbh but ye, either could claim the best bw title and it'd be fair.
Myself, I'd give it tj.
 
Cruz still fights in between all his injuries?
 
Cruz is #1.....Faber is #2.....TJ is damn good but has not done as much as Faber to take #2...

Faber in UFC was only in his prime for 1 to 2 fights.
 
Their resumes aren’t even close. Neither tj nor Dom lost their match. It was a draw. I would bet 1k on a tj knockout if they fight again.
 
If TJ beats Cruz twice then he can claim he's the best BW.
 
Dbreiden83080 said:
He is great but he needs to do more. And Dominic can still beat him in my opinion.
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Pretty much how I see it.

Everyone wants to jump in that pool but few can make the long stay. That's where it gets judged imo. Can't be "one of" the greatest without the test of time. Cruz is ahead of him here.

I never go full GOAT...
 
The only reason Cruz is ahead of TJ right now is the # of title defenses. Once they rematch, TJ finishes Cruz. In the first fight, TJ fought Cruz the same way Cody fought him this past wk end, angry and emotional. Today's TJ def beats Dom and might even finish him. The first fight was razor thin but Cruz def took it. That's the last win he'll have on TJ. They might have a rubber match at some point but it's not gonna get any prettier for Dom IMO.
 
I scored Dillashaw/Cruz for Dillashaw but I still think Cruz is the GOAT at 135
 
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