He seems very knowledgeable as a commentator, which I would expect as a former UFC champion. So why does he only has a blue belt in bjj? I know the ground game has become less important in modern mma so maybe a blue belt is enough to compete at the highest level?
Dominick Cruz ground skills?
- Thread starter tomjones
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Do belts even matter in jiu jitsu?
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There are more to grappling than BJJ. Fedor and Khabib don't even have a belt in BJJ. Cruz has shown enough grappling skills on the ground to be an equivalent high belt color in BJJ
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It depends on who you ask. If you're asking me -- no THE FUCK it does not lol
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The only belts that matter are sherdog belts
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Cruz has legit grappling skills due to his background in wrestling. You can cover a lot of base in MMA with just general BJJ knowledge if you have a grappling ability elsewhere. Look at Jon Jones who just very recently got a purple belt.
The one thing with Cruz that I think is a legit criticism, is the fact that he does not really control people well on the ground. But this guy has been fighting the best since his first UFC fight so there is that.
He has some beautiful TD's though. His kneetap and his German Suplex is solid as hell and he utilized it well throughout his career.
Also he is a bluebelt under Lloyd Irvin which is kinda hilarious.
The one thing with Cruz that I think is a legit criticism, is the fact that he does not really control people well on the ground. But this guy has been fighting the best since his first UFC fight so there is that.
He has some beautiful TD's though. His kneetap and his German Suplex is solid as hell and he utilized it well throughout his career.
Also he is a bluebelt under Lloyd Irvin which is kinda hilarious.
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he probably doesn't train gi its that simple. a lot of mma guys don't train gi and have a low level belt as a result or they only train it when they aren't in or close to fight camp.
i think there is some benefit to it but there is a handful of things you could do instead. its a lot more to learn you can't use in a fight. the amount of subs and sweeps, grips all that is so much different in the gi. its a different sport and they are already training four other sports. it surprises me actually when you hear some are black belts because most instructors base it not just on knowledge and ability but attendance and things like that
This is thing a lot of people miss, Cruz against elite opponents needs wrestling as a safe space in order to cover the more inefficient aspects of his striking. It's what made the difference in the Dillashaw and Garbrandty fights.
For what it's worth though he did murder Mizugaki from referee's position if I recall.
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He's too busy learning new millenial tik tok dance moves to incorporate into his fighting style to be concerned with earning dumb bjj belts
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His ground skills are more than adequate, a lot of Bjj instructors won’t promote you unless you train extensively in a gi
For example Urijah Faber has 17 career victory’s by submission but he’s still a brown belt , I think it’s fairly obvious to anyone who knows what their talking about that he’s a black belt level grappler
For example Urijah Faber has 17 career victory’s by submission but he’s still a brown belt , I think it’s fairly obvious to anyone who knows what their talking about that he’s a black belt level grappler
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Agreed. You could see TJ starting to struggle once Dom implemented the TD's in there fight which I believe is what won him the fight and put him ahead.
The Mizugaki fight (though 1 minute long) was absolutely phenomenal from Dom. Everything about that sequence from the side-step to the TD to the second TD and then Doms GnP was crazy. Mizugaki was a Top 5 BW at the time coming off five wins, while Dom came back from that horrible injury streak, basically being retired mid-way through. To then walk out like that and perform the way he did, crazy.
Came to say this. You don't see Cruz in many prolonged grappling exchanges, but he's excellent on the ground. I might be mistaken, but I think he was the first to ever take Dillashaw down. Plus, when he was taken down or pressed against the cage in the Dillashaw fight, he was able to work his way back to his feet without taking much damage. To me, that's even more impressive because Dillashaw was excellent at control and ground£ back then.
