Can anyone beat Dominick Cruz?
Last night, Dominick Cruz beat Demetrious Johnson to rack up his 4th title defence. Cruz has now beaten Johnson, Urijah Faber, Scott Jorgensen, Joseph Benavidez, and Brian Bowles in his last 5 fights. He had a broken hand for most of the fight, but still won 50-45 on 2 scorecards. Cruz wasn’t able to employ his usual striking game, but he still never allowed Mighty Mouse to land any strikes with significant frequency. Although Johnson took Cruz down a couple times, Cruz got up almost immediately each time. Cruz was also able to take Johnson down on 10 of 19 attempts.
Running through the elite bantamweight fighters makes it difficult to picture Cruz losing his title anytime soon. From both a rankings and box office point of view, the winner of Urijah Faber-Brian Bowles should get the next shot at Cruz. Cruz already beat both of these fighters, though Cruz-Faber would be an interesting rubber match- the 2nd Cruz-Faber fight was difficult to score. Cruz-Faber would also undoubtedly be the best drawing possible match. However, what are the realistic chances of Faber being able to close the distance and deal damage in a rematch?
One potential interesting matchup is the winner of Brad Pickett vs Renan Barao getting a shot. Pickett has great timing, mixing up the takedowns and counterstrikes. Additionally, he is decent off his back and has good power. Barao is a majorly hyped up prospect, holding 26 straight wins (he won his 1st 2 appearances in the WEC and his 1st UFC fight for those of you who are thinking can crusher). Barao has a world class ground game which would test the skills of anyone in the bantamweight division. A win over Pickett would put Barao into contender status.
Cruz is now in elite company: the only fighters who have put up 4 straight title defences at this level are Anderson Silva, Georges St. Pierre, Chuck Liddell, Tito Ortiz, Frank Shamrock, Matt Hughes, Pat Miletich, and Faber. Some people might not like the way he fights, but the combination of speed/elusiveness, takedowns/takedown defence, length/reach, and cardio is something that has entrenched Dominick Cruz in the same space as these all time legends.
The only potential weakness Cruz has shown so far is all his fights go to decision. As Chael Sonnen stated, 25 minutes is a long time. It only takes 1 slip up for something bad to happen, and this remote possibility of getting caught may be the best chance anyone has of beating Dominick Cruz.
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Considering that bantamweight is less established than the 5 main classes, Cruz may hold that belt for a long time. While he doesn’t finish opponents, he is almost never in danger. If no one has been able to catch him so far it’s unlikely the 8-15 guys can.
Bowles may have never gone to a decision, but he was getting tooled in their fight before having to stop due to the hand injury. That would have been a decision loss.