Dominick Cruz is officially done with MMA.
The former UFC Bantamweight Champion was originally scheduled to make his return at UFC Seattle on February 22 against Rob Font. It would’ve been Cruz’s first fight in two years. However, father time gets the best of all of us. Though Cruz has won two out of his last four fights, injuries have taken a toll on the 39-year-old.
The former UFC Bantamweight Champion was forced to pull out his bout against Font due to another injury. Ultimately, Cruz decided that now was the best time to hang up the gloves since his body just isn’t what it used to be.
Dominick Cruz leaves behind a remarkable career. The California native was the inaugural UFC Bantamweight Champion and dominated the division in the late 2000’s with incredible wins over Urijah Faber, Demetrious Johnson, and T.J. Dillashaw. By this time, Dominick had fought in several promotions including World Extreme Cagefighting, which was purchased by Zuffa, LLC, the parent company of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).
Dominick’s career took a hit when he lost to Cody Garbrandt at UFC 207. He did come back with wins over Casey Kenney and Pedro Munhoz, but his final bout was a TKO loss to Marlon Vera.
Cruz retiring isn’t too shocking as he planned on retiring after his fight with Font, win, lose, or draw. It all circles back to injuries and training camp, which he detailed during his interview on Good Guy / Bad Guy.
"For me, it is not because of my mentality," Cruz said of the reason why he's retiring. "Not because of my skillset, because like, yeah, I lost my last fight, but I was in that fight every minute of the fight and when I got finished, I was going for the kill, which got me hurt."
"I look at that fight [his bout against Marlon Vera], I go, 'Okay, don't be too harsh on yourself,'" Cruz said of the KO loss. "This is part of the game. You get hit, you get caught, these things happen. But I was in the fight. I wasn't slower. I wasn't like looking behind a step. I wasn't not choosing the good techniques."
"The skills are still there. It's just a matter of all the injuries and stuff. Can I keep them together to get through the camp? The camp's the hard part. We all know that it's not really the fight."
While it’s a shame that Cruz couldn’t go out with a win, he’s still had one hell of an MMA career. He ends his career with a record of 24 wins and 4 losses.