Dominick Cruz Questions Undefeated Fighters Retiring. Speaks About Injuries.

Is Cruz the Bantamweight GOAT in Your Opinion?

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Former WEC and two time UFC Bantamweight Champion spoke with Ariel Helwani on the MMA Hour this past week.



Former UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz has faced some of the most significant injury obstacles of anyone to hold a UFC belt: Two blown knees, a botched surgery, a torn quad, and other consequences of a decade in the cage.

They cost him almost four years of his career. When he looks back and looks forward, though, he can only feel gratitude at what he’s been able to survive.

“Everybody left me, nothing was going right, I was depressed,” Cruz said recently on The MMA Hour. “So I had to find a way to make a difference to get out of my own way.”

Commentary turned out to be the thing that saved Cruz. Putting all of his energy into the analysis of the sport was not only a way to stay in the game, but also to be a part of a community, and a way to provide a perspective on his and other’s journeys as fighters. When he eventually made his way back to the sport and won again inside the octagon, he looked differently at those who had gone through adversity — and those who’d left.

“I look at this sport from a completely different frame of mind these days than I ever looked at it before, because I’ve had to rewrite my belief systems as I’ve won and lost, won and lost,” he said. “That’s one of the reasons I’m here. I’d never felt that much loss in two years of my life. And then to come back again and win again after feeling that loss, there’s no understanding of yourself like that. So any athlete who left the sport undefeated, I question: ‘Are you really undefeated, or did you not challenge yourself as hard as you could have? And if you did, what would it look like on the other side?’”
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Cruz, who’s next set to face Pedro Munhoz at UFC 269, wouldn’t directly name Khabib Nurmagomedov as the object of his observation, but he indicated the now-retired undefeated former lightweight champion was a good example. If a fighter had never bounced back from a loss, he said it could deprive them of a worthwhile step in their martial arts journey.

“I get it, you’re undefeated — but like, are you undefeated, or could you have just pushed a little harder to get that next level and get that loss? And then come back and reclaim the loss with a win and see what your next level, your next evolution in life is? It’s not all about just winning and losing and being perfect. Nothing in life is that.

“You can’t dodge loss. You can’t dodge pain. You can’t dodge any of it. So what’s the point? You might as well just go right through it. The question is, when it does happen, what are you going to do with it? Are you going to just give up and say I’m retired and quit, or are you going to get back on the horse and see what else you can be?”
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Link: https://www.mmafighting.com/2021/11...ed-could-you-have-just-pushed-a-little-harder
 
That's sherdogger level reasoning. The guy's an idiot.
 
Khabib should do exactly what Floyd did except fight boxers in MMA bouts.

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I do agree that coming back from a loss is its own kind of title and a learning lesson about who's around you - who the fakes and the real ones are in your team. But it's a horrible, life altering lesson and being undefeated is - clearly - annoyingly awesome. So I get both sides, but I can't help but support anyone going out on top. Cause it's so rare. And annoying to the promoters. Cause they couldn't parlay you into a new star. Trampoline from you into a another money pile.
 
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StoneColdSteveAustin said:
Cruz is extremely unlikable and comes off almost like a robot.


The only time I enjoy him is when he’s fighting. Other than that I don’t need to hear from him.
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it was pretty clear from the title this was a thread about his opinions .. you didn't 'need' to open this thread if you don't need to hear from him, no?
 
But Cruz isn't wrong, I do think Khabib has a really thin resume, though he's probably LW Goat for what he has done.
 
Retiring undefeated in a sport as unpredictable as MMA requires cherrypicking of fights you know you can win, see: Khabib only fighting strikers who can't stop his grappling for the last 5 years of his career. If you fight everyone in your way you're going to lose sooner or later to a bad style matchup, thats how the sport works. Khabib ducked grapplers after he lost to Tibau and was gifted a decision, and after that only fought guys that had nothing for him on the mat.

The other case is Jones who arguably lost one or two of his last few fights and had a few close decisions along the way, so he's not shutting people out in a decisive way, he benefited from biased judging and the implication that you have to finish him to "beat" him otherwise it doesn't count. He's also failed PED tests numerous times now which gave him an advantage in all his fights, and people suspect the reason he took 2 years off now is a secret suspension that he's serving until early 2022, the UFC kept it quiet rather than having to make an example and cut him beacuse Dana sees him as the MMA Jordan or something and need him for legacy reasons.
 
Khabib has the longest win streak at UFC lightweight, the longest undefeated streak in MMA, and tied the LW defense record. He accomplished all of this in the best version of the deepest, toughest weight class in MMA.

In other words, Khabib already broke past barriers that should've resulted in a loss or two and still remained undefeated. Cope harder, Cruz.
 
Cruz says a lot of dumb things especially when live commentating but he’s not wrong I was always a khabib fan but always criticized his lack of activity in past years and his retiring at his prime
 
I never liked Cruz, but he was hell of a fighter.

If it wasn't for such a long lay off, he would easily have been bw Goat. His win over Dillsnake is probably the best performance at BW, off a long lay off.

But I'd think Dillsnake edged him out by activity and in my opinion, Cruz lost to neck tat fair and sqaure.
 
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