Injuries, lay-off forced UFC's Dominick Cruz to redefine himself
Dominick Cruz was justifiably proud of being one of the best fighters in the world, pound for pound. The former WEC and UFC bantamweight champion worked hard to develop into a champion, after all.
However, the fighter says that the quest to become and then remain champion became all-consuming not just in terms of his time and effort, but also in terms of his identity and self-worth. Three years away from competition because of injuries, revealed this to "The Dominator."
"For a long time, I felt like my identity was to fight," Cruz said in a recent interview.
"My identity was to be a world champion. That almost defined me. Then, over the course of these last three years, I really found that had nothing to do with me. All that was was just something that I did, and I'm happy that I've had to go through this, because I've had to learn a new piece of myself. I had to find a new piece of myself, take away what I thought defined me completely out of my life, and I had to redefine myself."
Cruz, who returns to the Octagon this Saturday at UFC 178 against Takeya Mizugaki, said that he began to use MMA fighting as a crutch, and in order to avoid dealing with himself. He loved and still does love martial arts and competing, but has become a more well-rounded person during his time away from fighting.
"I feel that I fell somewhat under that category where I was using fighting to kind of run from my own self to an extent, to kind of numb the things that I thought about myself," Cruz explained.
"When I had fighting taken away, I was forced to look at myself in the mirror and say, 'What are you without fighting? What are you without being a champion? What are you without being able to train every single day to numb whatever you're trying to run from?'
"What I found out is that what I needed was to do that, to look at myself in the mirror and to recreate myself, find a new person inside me,. And I've done that. I've been able to become an analyst over this time, learn more about fighting. I was able to help coach and help my teammates become better athletes. I was able to get involved in some charity stuff and help others with their lives. I was able to build my relationship with god closer. There were so many things I've been able to switch my hats on and really focus on something other than beating people up for a living, and it's just really changed me. Now I can add that to the fact that I also get to fight, I get to re-live my passion all over again."
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