Honestly, as a huge fan, he looked like an old man in there. His body just cannot hold up. He still has the mental ability and skills, but as time goes on since his return it's wearing out on him more and more. Part of me was in denial because heck I want the best for people, especially those I'm a fan of, but it's become obvious now, I just needed to be smacked in the face with that fact. Against TJ he looked as good as ever until the fourth when his feet/legs started wearing down, but the rest of him was good enough to come back and win the fifth round. Then we learned of his problems with his feet post fight and he took months off before the Faber fight. Against Faber we saw him limping around pre-fight, and moving less in the fight, but he fought so well in the pocket it didn't matter much. After more months off we see him limping around pre-fight again, then we hear him say he needs botox injections in his feet for then to not hurt and to move well, then with the taped up feet and ankles in the fight we had another bad sign, but he just was not moving well this fight.
That's not to say he did bad, it was still a 48-47 fight (though I thought he landed more in the deciding first round, which mattered more to me than a brief down then up td), and the commentary was atrocious, when Rogan and Goldberg were counting every off balance on one foot and/or dipping his body "knockdown" as a legit knockdown (that fourth round commentary was ridiculous). Cody played the counter game well, but Cruz was just not moving well enough (like he used to) to be able to play his own game. Even his punches and overall accuracy were just way off, and not necessarily from Cody's movement (not that he didn't do a good job, though Cruz also faced a still prime TJ and Mighty Mouse and did far better than he did here), but it was just Cruz not being able to do what he has been capable of. He looked slow, sloppy, off, and old (yet even a bad version of Cruz was better than most anyone else.
I think he needs to take some real time off, should have after the Faber fight; not that the fight against Cody was soon after, but with his foot problems, knee history, and limp walking, he needed more time off. Three fights in a year after his history of issues was asking far too much of his body. I hoped for the best, and know what Cruz has been capable of, so hoped for that Cruz, but I had a bad feeling about the card (which are always correct about any sporting event, unfortunately) so I didn't order it live and watched it after it had already happened. He's still a young guy, and worry about his ability to walk not just as he gets older, but in his 30's (which he just hit). It's not a good sign when you need regular botox injections in your feet just to move around without pain or to move around semi-normally at all.
Hats off to Cody though, he did a good job, I just don't believe he beat the same Cruz we have been used to. If Cody beats TJ I'll give him a lot more kudos (as he would deserve them anyway).
