Dominick Cruz's Training Partner Says TJ vs Dominick Cruz 2 is Set for December

[ArtemV]

Dillashaw will put an end to the Decisionater. Dillashaw will use leg kicks more and learn from the Garbrandt vs Cruz fight. I think Dillashaw will finish him this time.

 

[Alpha_T83]

You might be right, for now, but there is a good chance that tj overtakes him at some point.

TJ is a very impressive fighter. If TJ beats Cruz, Assuncao, and Moraes in the next 2 years, then he'll have cemented himself as the best 135er ever, in my mind.

 

[King in the North]

TJ takes this one, probably by stoppage.

Don won the first fight 3-2 though.

 

[Alpha_T83]

Dillashaw will put an end to the Decisionater. Dillashaw will use leg kicks more and learn from the Garbrandt vs Cruz fight. I think Dillashaw will finish him this time.

Styles make fights. Dominic is a little slow at times, and his injuries made it even worse vs Cody. This allowed Cody to use his speed to really overwhelm Dom. TJ is a little slower than Cody, but he's a lot tougher. This allowed him to basically trade at will with Cody, eat shots if necessary, and keep swinging. Eventually he's fast enough to catch Cody and win.

Unfortunately for TJ, Dom is just fast enough to use his reach and movement to hit TJ from a long range. Dominic doesn't over-commit with those haymakers like Cody did, and so the same counter-punching opportunities won't be there for TJ. Where Cody was just fast enough to slip Dom's punches and catch him, TJ gets hit more and can't counter as well.

What I'm trying to say is that Dom's awkward standup style doesn't work well against a real speedster like Cody, but he's just fast enough to give a guy like TJ fits.

 

[AJ Garcia]

Dom successfully ducking all the top5 fighters calling him out. TJ had to fight two top5 guys to get the shot again, Cruz deserves the same treatment

TJ would’ve never even had the belt if he Cruz didn’t get hurt. The whole thing was like an interim belt and paper until whoever had it fought Cruz and as soon as that happened he lost. TJ should be wanting to avenge that lost since he’s been running around telling people it didn’t happen and calling himself the champion still after Cruz beat him off the couch. If tj wins tho then he can say that Cruz need to get some more wins before they have a trilogy fight.

Honestly tho I’m s big fan of both of these guys and just like Cody and tj, I could watch them fight over and over. If there was one fighter I could take and download all of their skills it would be TJ. This fight is gonna be non stop and as technical as it gets. I think Cruz will edge him out in a close decision again.

 

[Alpha_T83]

TJ takes this one, probably by stoppage.

Don won the first fight 3-2 though.

I don't know why, but I truly believe Dominic Cruz will regain his form. He's only 33. The guy has gas left in the tank and the motivation/work ethic to get the job done.

If Dom regains his former glory, I see him winning another decision.

 

[Chad W]

Not a fan of this matchmaking at all

 

[Krixes]

Hasn't fought since 2016 (check)....Coming off a lopsided loss (check)...Gets title shot again over more deserving contenders (check)....Fucking UFC man.....

 

[WinZip]

TJ has popped as many times as Cruz has.

And hopefully it stays that way

 

[King in the North]

I don't know why, but I truly believe Dominic Cruz will regain his form. He's only 33. The guy has gas left in the tank and the motivation/work ethic to get the job done.

If Dom regains his former glory, I see him winning another decision.

He could, certainly not out of the question. The way their first fight started trending toward the end, and the garbrandt fight, make me think Dom has a long night.

But I’ve been wrong before and Cruz is a special fighter. It should be a good fight either way.

 

[mirellale]

Fuck Dom and his sassy ass.TJ had to beat two top 5 contenders to get a title shot yet Dom gets a title shot coming from a loss and a cancelled fight due to injury.TJ will beat and retire him for good.

 

[ArtOfDrowning]

Dom getting a title shot after losing so badly to Cody is total BS. Nothing against Dom, he just needs to win one or two fights before getting a title show. Him vs Rivera would be a good title eliminator.

Moraes should be next. He KTFO Rivera who never lost a UFC fight. Dude deserves it. Hopefully this is false news.

 

[Alpha_T83]

He could, certainly not out of the question. The way their first fight started trending toward the end, and the garbrandt fight, make me think Dom has a long night.

But I’ve been wrong before and Cruz is a special fighter. It should be a good fight either way.

I just think Cruz is so intelligent that he wouldn't take this fight if he didn't think he can win. He knows that losing to TJ at this point would basically pass the torch to TJ as the greatest 135er ever (assuming TJ doesn't lose from here on out). I just don't see Dom risking his legacy if he thought he'd lose. No one would fault him for retiring after his injury history.

If he comes back and fights, I think it's because he knows he's healthy and can win the fight.

 

[Alpha_T83]

Dom getting a title shot after losing so badly to Cody is total BS

Moraes should be next. He KTFO Rivera who never lost a UFC fight. Dude deserves it. Hopefully this is false news.

Moraes cannot be next. Assuncao owns a win over Moraes in 2017. Let's take Cruz out of the equation for a second, there's absolutely NO WAY you can justify outright giving a title shot to Moraes when Assuncao is right there, and beat Moraes last year. On top of that, Moraes is only 3-1 in the UFC, and he could have gotten lucky against Rivera.

After reading this thread more and more, the only 2 reasonable options are Assuncao and Cruz. Moraes needs another top 5 win to cement himself as a #1 contender, simply because he lacks volume in the UFC 135 division.

 

[Alpha_T83]

Moraes and Assuncao stuck doing nothing.

They can fight each other, which they should have.

If they wanted to get the TS instead of Dominic, they should have fought each other.

 

[youllneverwalkalone]

Why does Cruz deserve the TS? Because he was the most dominant 135er ever, and only has 1 loss in 10 years. The default assumption should be that he will defeat the current top 5. There's nothing to indicate that he would lose to Moraes, Assuncao, or even Garbrandt again.

Yeah but who and how often has he fought in these years? He hasn't beaten any top contender at BW except for his SD oevr TJ in 2015. There is nothing to indicate he would beat those guys? Fine, but there is even less to indicate he would beat them since he last lost (decidedly) to Cody and hasn't fought since.

Again, Cody beat him once. Matt Serra beat GSP even more convincingly. Was Serra better than GSP overall? Nope. An N=1 means literally nothing. It means on that night, Cody Garbrandt was better. We have no idea what factors played into that. You've got a guy in Dominic Cruz that's only 33 years old, and was at one point the most dominant 135er ever. The default assumption must be that he had a bad night. To conclude "he's done" after he lost 1 fight is absurd.

He doesn't deserve a TS =/= he's "done".

In a perfect world, every single fighter should need to win a clear #1 contender fight before challenging for the title. However, that's not always possible. Sometimes you end up without a clear #1 contender and a champion that's ready to fight. If Moraes or Assuncao wanted the title shot, they should have fought each other a 2nd time. That would put one of them in a dominant position to claim the title shot. However, they haven't done that yet. Darren Till got his title shot because he fought Wonderboy -- had he sat out, he wouldn't have gotten it.

The reality is all 3 guys have a claim to the title shot:

Assuncao: 1-1 against Dillashaw and 4 fight win streak, and holds a recent win over Moraes
Moraes: Impressive 3 fight win streak since losing his first UFC fight. But he's only 3-1 in the UFC.
Cruz: 1-0 against Dillashaw, best 135 champion ever, and only lost once in 10 years.

And in this situation, Assuncao holds the win over Moraes, so he should get it... but Moraes has a better recent win against Jimmie Rivera. With no UNDENIABLE #1 contender, it goes to Cruz by default.

So what you are saying is there are two worthy contender, but no clear #1 contender, so the solution is to go with the third best choice. That just doesn't make any sense whatsoever.

The crazy thing in all of this is Cruz was gonna fight Rivera and pulled out, but somehow this got him closer to a TS than he was before.

 

[hot carl]

TJ is a very impressive fighter. If TJ beats Cruz, Assuncao, and Moraes in the next 2 years, then he'll have cemented himself as the best 135er ever, in my mind.

To hell with that.

Ufc has jumped the shark or are jumping the shark.

I want to see tj, dom, and Cody ina fatal threeway tables ladders and chairs match at msg.

The ufc is already heading that way—this might be the catalyst we need to get there.

 

[Loriquero]

Moraes should be getting that shot and Cruz should fight Assuncao on the same card, winner of Cruz v Assuncao gets title shot with Cody facing Lineker somewhere in the mean time

dis.

Cody vs Lineker 5 rounds please.

 

[Nosferatu.]

Fuck that, i want to see Moraes vs TJ.

 

[El Fernas]

I saw Dom winning the first, i got TJ on this one, more power and seems to be in absolute prime form.