The history of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) cannot be written without the legends of the lighter weight classes and their rivalries. The longest and perhaps most bitter rivalry south of 155 pounds is undoubtedly that of Dominick ‘The Dominator’ Cruz and ‘The California Kid’ Urijah Faber.
Now, there is an eerie similarity between this rivalry and the Keanu Reeves movie franchise – The Matrix; of which MMA fans and movie buffs, in particular, would recall the protagonist ‘Neo’ portrayed by Mr. Reeves, fighting several clones of the antagonist ‘Agent Smith’.
Now picture Cruz as Neo, Faber as Agent Smith and the Team Alpha Male (TAM) trained prodigies of Faber as the clones. That, right there, is a fight that Cruz has been dealing with for about a decade. This rivalry between Cruz and Faber, and consequentially, TAM, dates back to the World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) championship bout between Cruz and Faber in March of 2007.
Faber handed Cruz his first pro loss submitting him via guillotine choke, a trademark submission of Faber’s gym TAM. This loss was the beginning of a long and bitter rivalry between Cruz and TAM which saw Cruz fight several TAM fighters including- Joseph Benavidez (2 times), Urijah Faber (3 times), TJ Dillashaw and Cody Garbrandt.
From March of 2007 to December 30, 2016 at UFC 207, Cruz kept fighting Team Alpha Male fighters or as he, himself, refers to them- ‘Team Alpha Fail’ fighters. He fought them and beat them, one by one, and in the process, avenged his lone career loss to Faber.
Hereafter, Cruz defended his title against Demetrius ‘Mighty Mouse’ Johnson, who in 2017, is considered by many as the greatest pound for pound fighter. However, Cruz revealed he had an ACL tear in May, 2012. Then in December, 2012, Cruz was said to have undergone another ACL surgery.
Cruz then went on to suffer a groin injury in early 2014 and in December, 2014, he declared that he suffered an ACL injury in his other knee. Throughout these hardships and setbacks, there was one thing that Cruz could fall back on.
His winning record inside the Octagon.
No matter what, be it injuries in training or being sidelined from the sport due to post-surgery rehabilitation, Cruz kept fighting and winning when he stepped into the cage. Cruz’s biggest wins in recent history came against TJ Dillashaw and Faber.
He regained the UFC Bantamweight crown which he was previously stripped off due to injuries by beating Dillashaw and beat Faber at UFC 199, successfully defending his BW belt and finishing the Cruz-Faber trilogy 2-1.
Just when it felt that the Cruz vs TAM rivalry has finally come to an end, a new challenger emerged. Just a few fights old in MMA and relatively unproven against the elite in the UFC 135 pound division, Cody ‘No Love’ Garbrandt was chosen to face Cruz for Cruz’s BW title as the co-main event of UFC 207 that featured the return of global MMA superstar and pop icon ‘Rowdy’ Ronda Rousey.
The stage was set for Cruz to shine as the co-main event of the UFC 207 fight card.
Lots of fans tuning in for Rousey would also be introduced to Cruz’s unique style of fighting. Now, as great as Cruz is, the fight game is also a business; a business that also needs to attract casual MMA watchers to drive up the PPV sales and revenue for the fighters and the MMA organization promoting the said fights.
And no one attracts casual fans or even first time MMA watchers to events, better than Ronda Rousey, and more recently, Conor McGregor. Featuring on the Rousey main card in a five round title fight was an incredible opportunity for Cruz to breakout into the mainstream and become a superstar in his own right.
But then, staying true to the pattern of 2016, a year filled with crazy upsets and underdog stories in MMA, Garbrandt outworked Cruz en route to a unanimous decision victory.
For years, it was considered a given that to beat Cruz you need to finish him. Submit or KO him. Because outpointing Cruz is as good as playing a chess match against a Grandmaster. Dominick Cruz is a battle computer. His ability to remain calm and calculated in a sport that is filled with chaos and, at times, unchecked aggression, just goes to show how well conditioned Cruz is mentally.
Believe it or not, fighters are very intelligent beings. They train about 6-8 hours a day, at least 5 days a week. They are required to be disciplined with their diet, workouts, skills training, etc. Even their social life is affected by their training schedules and strenuous workout routines.
The result of so much pressure often manifests itself in fatigue- not only of the physical variety but mental as well. Fighters are human, after all, and almost all fighters, sooner or later, succumb to this steady routine of hard training.
In layman’s terms, they ‘break’, just like we all do from time to time. That, right there, is where Cruz is different from the others.
Dominick Cruz is regarded by many as one of the most cerebral fighters in MMA. He truly is a machine and a workhorse. When he fights opponents, he doesn’t simply fight them. He analyses them, he observes them, he studies them. He calculates the odds of what their next move is going to be. He battles an opponent like a computer would battle a human.
He has ice flowing through his veins. No matter what his opponent says, it doesn’t faze him. He trucks on, without fear, without doubt. While his opponent is all riled up from the adrenaline rush of the fight, Cruz is in a Zen-like state.
He can beat his opponent well before they enter the cage with his sophisticated brand of intelligent pre-fight trash talk. Mind you, sophisticated trash talk is a rarity in a fight or an argument, let alone combat sports. Cruz is a genius at playing mind games.
This just goes to show that Cruz practices what he preaches. Cruz’s mantra has always been ‘Mind, Body and Spirit’, meaning that a true martial artist trains not only his body (fitness, skills, etc), but also places equal importance on training and strengthening one’s mind and soul.
Being mentally strong and having an unbreakable spirit is just as essential as having a disciplined ‘Strength and Conditioning’ and ‘Skill Development’ training schedule. So, the question remains – how did Agent Smith and his clones finally manage to beat Neo at his own game?
Cruz prided himself on the fact that his movements in the cage are Neo-like. He is Neo and the cage is the Matrix. Most of his prominent opponents were TAM fighters. In the lead up to UFC 207, Cruz referred to them as clones. Clones of Faber, to be precise and clones that Cruz has comfortably beaten throughout the past decade.
He also claimed that Garbrandt was the same. Just another TAM clone. However, a couple of things stood out about Garbrandt. Differences between him and most of Cruz’s previous opponents. Firstly, Garbrandt’s KO power as evidenced by his high KO ratio and his beautiful KO win over Brazilian BW prospect, Thomas Almeida.
Secondly, his footwork and solid boxing foundation. Cody Garbrandt was more powerful than any other opponent that Cruz had ever faced, and that is a telling sign, in itself. The list of Cruz’s previous opponents includes names like the aforementioned Faber, Dillashaw, Johnson, etc. Big names. Elite fighters.
Naturally then, before the fight at UFC 207, many MMA experts had predicted that if there is any way that Garbrandt wins, it would be by a flash KO. Because winning a decision against Cruz is nearly impossible. That is just how technical and slick Dominick Cruz has been over the years.
Majority of the MMA pundits leaned towards Cruz winning on the scorecards and retaining his BW title than Garbrandt becoming the new champion. Little did they know that Garbrandt and his coaches at TAM had an ace up their sleeve.
Before Cruz fought Garbrandt at UFC 207 and before he defended his BW title against Faber at UFC 199, Cruz fought another TAM fighter – TJ Dillashaw. Now, when it comes to TAM and Dillashaw, we know things aren’t good between them.
Years ago Faber brought in Dillashaw, then a young prospect, to work as a sparring partner for him at TAM. Cruz has an unorthodox and awkward style to prepare for but TJ Dillashaw was a guy, who, at that time, could mimick some of the movements of Cruz.
Hence, Faber brought him in to help in training camp in order to prepare for a future fight against Cruz. Dillashaw, on his part, got the benefit of being able to train at one of the best MMA gyms in the world.
However, around the time Dillashaw won the BW title in the UFC, relations between Dillashaw and Faber began to sour, especially considering the fact that Dillashaw’s striking coach, Duane Ludwig, and Dillashaw’s mentor, Urijah Faber, didn’t see eye to eye.
This friction saw Dillashaw move to Colorado along with Ludwig, and training at Elevation Fight Team, in Denver, Colorado, instead of TAM. Now, Cruz vs Dillashaw was a fight that created as many questions as it answered, perhaps, even more.
For starters, that fight showed that Cruz is a genius.
Coming back from career-threatening injuries and jumping right into the title mix is tough, to say the least. Cruz outpointed Dillashaw in a close fight and regained his title. However, that fight showed a few chinks in the seemingly unpenetrable armour of the ‘Dominator’.
Dillashaw showed that presenting a moving target to Cruz would not only help defend against his unorthodox strking but also helps target Cruz’s legs. Dillashaw has a tremendous pressure-based striking game. His pressure-striking is unmatched in the UFC BW division, even better than Cruz and Garbrandt.
Dillashaw stalked Cruz and scored with leg kicks, constantly pressuring and chopping down Cruz’s legs. However, he made one critical error. Dillashaw fell for the age old Cruz trick or should I say, Neo trick. He started chasing Cruz. He started headhunting.
He attacked Cruz with headkicks and tried to take his head off with each of them. Alas, Dillashaw failed because chasing Cruz around sapped away Dillashaw’s own cardio. Cruz, meanwhile, took control of the fight and outpointed Dillashaw.
Although Dillashaw had some success in the 5th and final round of their fight, Cruz already had the fight in his pocket. Now, Cruz won the title, however, TAM and Garbrandt were the real winners of this fight. Cruz vs Dillashaw exposed a lot of weaknesses of both Cruz and Dillashaw.
The fight showed that you have to battle Cruz’s angles and footwork by complementing them with your own angles and footwork rather than chasing him around. It also showed Dillashaw’s impatience and vulnerability to being countered especially at punching range.
TAM and Cody Garbrandt studied this fight. Add to it the fact that Garbrandt is no stranger to slick boxing footwork and angles, and you have a winner. Cruz then went on to battle and beat Faber in their trilogy fight at UFC 199.
Then came the day December 30, 2016, UFC 207.
Cody Garbrandt was prepared. TAM clone or not, he was ready for Cruz and his Neo-like movements. Garbrandt stepped into the Matrix. Before the fight, everyone thought Cruz would be the one dancing circles around Garbrandt, and he did, in fact, dance and constantly circle Garbrandt.
However, Cruz wasn’t the only dancer in the Octagon that night. He had an amazing dance partner. The perfect storm. Cruz came out in his usual style, breaking out awkward, ducking sequences. Cruz would duck side-to-side, constantly switching stances. Feinting, trying to draw reactions from Garbrandt.
But herein, lay the problem. Garbrandt wouldn’t bite on Cruz’s feints. Instead of reacting to Cruz’s feints, and chasing him around like many of Cruz’s past opponents have done, Garbrandt would use his footwork and simply angle away.
Nevertheless, Cruz kept flicking his jab and feinting at Garbrandt. The fight progressed rhythmically and keeping up with this trend of chasing Garbrandt, Cruz started getting countered. Cruz was fed a steady dose of hard counter-punches by Faber’s most coveted pupil.
In all of Cruz’s fights, it was the opponent who would do the chasing, but for the first time in his career, Cruz was the one chasing his opponent around. Garbrandt had Cruz badly hurt in the 3rd round. Cruz got dropped multiple times in rounds 3 and 4.
Now, Cody Garbrandt had called out Cruz in the pre-fight buildup and on several other occasions, accusing Cruz of being more of a dancer in the cage than a fighter. Ironically, on fight night, it was Cody who broke into a jig multiple times throughout the fight.
In the opening rounds, Garbrandt busted out a few moonwalking dance moves. Did the ‘Ali shuffle’ and goaded Cruz to come at him. After dropping Cruz with hard counter-punches in round 3, Garbrandt, instead of going for the finish broke into an impromptu breakdancing jig.
He would knock Cruz down and ‘Do the robot’. He would stun Cruz with a sharp counter and then point to the centre of the Octagon.
Cody Garbrandt outpointed Dominick Cruz! More importantly, Dominick Cruz got outpointed and beat at his own game.
Now, picture Neo being defeated in the Matrix by an Agent Smith clone, crazy right? Absolutely. Cruz beat Faber 2-1 in their trilogy, he beat Joey B twice, he took the BW title off TJ Dillashaw. For years, Cruz beat Faber and his TAM prodigies one by one.
Cruz’s opponents always mocked his dancing style of fighting in the pre-fight buildups. It was that very dance of Cruz that dismantled them, time and again. And more, importantly, it was the opponent that showed Cruz the most respect who was also the one that outworked him and handed him his first loss in nearly a decade.
Regardless of all the pre-fight disrespect and anger that Garbrandt showed toward Cruz before the fight, when the Octagon door slammed shut, Garbrandt respected Cruz and his skills. Don’t let the in-fight antics fool you, Garbrandt knew Cruz is an excellent tactician and he stayed true to his TAM gameplan; and thus, dethroned Cruz.
A Team Alpha Male member had finally beaten Cruz, and more shockingly, how? By ‘dancing’ just like Cruz danced his way to his victories over several TAM opponents in the past. Only the second TAM member to beat Cruz, the first being Faber who is 1-2 against Cruz.
Cody Garbrandt danced his way to victory against Dominick Cruz just like Cruz would use his amazing fighting or should I say, dancing, to beat each and every one of his opponents.
Regardless of what happens now, moving forward, Dominick ‘The Dominator’ Cruz has carved a unique place for himself in the history of not only MMA but all of combat sports. Where the story of this rivalry between Cruz, Faber and TAM goes from here is anyone’s guess; however, one thing is for sure that even though they despise each other, the MMA careers of Cruz, Faber and the TAM gym would be incomplete without each other.
In an odd way, through their long and bitter rivalry, Cruz and TAM have, unbeknownst to themselves, ensured their place in the rich history of this young sport of MMA.
