Dominick Cruz Just a Fan at UFC 149, Promises He Won't Lose a Step in Comeback
UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz was recently supposed to defend his belt against Urijah Faber. Come fight time, however, he was a fan in the seats like anyone else, looking on as Faber fought Renan Barão for the interim UFC bantamweight title.
While coaching opposite Faber on the latest season of The Ultimate Fighter, Cruz blew out his knee and now finds himself on the sideline for the next several months.
Barão defeated Faber via decision at UFC 149 on Saturday night in Calgary. Many of the fans in attendance, likely still stinging from flat performances in the prior couple of fights, rained down boos on the headliners, but Cruz wasn’t one of them.
“I enjoyed the fight. It was fun to watch. It was very technical,” Cruz commented in a recent interview with AXS TV’s Inside MMA, explaining some of the booing. “There was a lot that went on in that fight that maybe not a lot of people understood.
Despite enjoying the fight as a fan, it still left a sour taste in Cruz’s mouth to be in the seats instead of the Octagon.
He’s a fan of the fights, maybe more so than most other fighters, but ultimately Cruz wants to be in the fight. And once he’s healed up from his torn ACL, he will be back at it, full steam ahead.
“I’m not going to lose a step,” Cruz declared, answering those who question whether he can be the same fighter upon his return.
“By the time I get back in there to fight, I will have had all the rest I need, all the training I need to be ready for that fight and to just do what I always do… and that’s win.”
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