#6: Dominick Cruz
Photo by Brandon Magnus/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
There is no unified criteria among MMA fans or analysts in determining the all-time greats of the sport. I personally believe the closest we can get to objectivity is to attempt to rate quality wins, rather than symbolic accomplishments or contribution to the sport. For a more in-depth explanation of that system, you can check out my section of our collective rankings page, or this document containing my own list, which includes the individual ratings of each quality win for dozens of candidates.
Today, we’ll be looking at the resume of Dominick Cruz, the greatest bantamweight of all time. The skills of Cruz himself will hardly be touched, but if you’re interested, I have broken down his wrestling-focused game in two separate articles.
Wrestling for MMA: Dominick Cruz (WEC Career)
Wrestling for MMA: Dominick Cruz (UFC Career)
If you were hoping for a more striking-centric breakdown, BJJ Scout has a few very popular videos on Cruz’s game.
Instead, as the preamble suggests, I will be justifying the ratings of some of Dominick Cruz’s quality wins, in chronological order.
The Resume of Dominick Cruz
The essential questions to answer are, “how good was (Fighter X) at the time Dominick Cruz defeated them? How tough were they to beat in that specific fight?” If we’re lacking data, “what form were they in at that stage of their career?” Method of victory, dominance, or other measures, would only add layers of subjectivity and muddy the process.
At the most basic level we’re evaluating how hard that fighter is to beat, in a pound-for-pound sense. The curve is based on the best MMA fighter(s) we’ve ever seen to this point, so the goalposts to reach “100” status will move as the sport continues to age and evolve.
Despite holding a major title, someone like Brian Bowles does not quite make the cut as far as “ratings” are concerned. Physicality is a factor, but Bowles was a fairly basic fighter, he never truly demonstrated the nuance or efficacy to prove himself as an elite. The lower weight classes are proliferated by athletic wrestle-boxers, Cruz himself is no exception. What set Cruz apart was how he capitalized on his mobility, picking up a few more advanced boxing techniques such as shifting, darts, pivots off entries, truly just the general theme of entering and exiting off angles was enough to trouble most fighters of his day in the WEC.
There is an existing narrative that no one could deal with Cruz’s “unorthodox” striking until he met TJ Dillashaw and Cody Garbrandt much later in his career. In fact, one fighter had an answer on the feet fairly early on.
Quality Win #1: 2009 Joseph Benavidez (79)
Fighter rating are determined by how tough an out they are for any opponent, in a pound-for-pound sense. Physical factors like chin and power factor in alongside more technical spheres.
Today, Joseph Benavidez has one of the most comprehensive skill-sets in the sport of mixed martial arts. On the feet, he is a combination counter puncher, he uses a power kicking game and some Duane Ludwig-inspired entries on the outside to trouble his opponents, punishing them with ugly, but brutal hooking combinations if they enter the pocket. He ruthlessly attacks the body, and knows how to play off his work to the legs and body to set up the kill shot to the head.
As a wrestler, Benavidez has a deep understanding of how to implement his folkstyle background in mixed martial arts. I went in-depth to explain those skills, highlighting his sensational rematch with Dustin Ortiz. As a scrambler, he’s one of the best of all-time in mixed martial arts, Benavidez can put himself in dangerous positions and escape unscathed time after time. As an athlete, Benavidez has always been highly mobile, powerful, durable, and he consistently pushes an exhausting pace without fail.
But that is a more polished version of Benavidez, an undeniable “B+” to “A” fighter. Just how good was he when he fought Dominick Cruz in 2009?
Striking
In 2016, Cody Garbrandt “figured out” Dominick Cruz. After studying the entries of Cruz, Garbrandt refused to lead, slipping and rolling under telegraphed combinations and countering with power. While Joseph Benavidez didn’t have the flash or mechanics to do it nearly as well as Garbrandt, he first demonstrated the efficacy of this gameplan in 2009.
CLIP: Joseph Benavidez works on the feet against Dominick Cruz (2009)
When Cruz would enter with his head off the centerline, Benavidez would swing wide, sometimes doubling up to catch Cruz on his exit. Even if he missed, Benavidez did what almost no one else had thought to do, he punted Cruz’s legs. Even TJ Dillashaw, a clear “A” fighter, did not get to his low kicks until late in his fight against Cruz. Benavidez was kicking on Cruz’s retreat early in round one, as well as leading with low kicks. Overall, Benavidez showed a clear understanding of how to cut off lateral movement with hooking punches and round kicks.
On the lead, Benavidez was still fairly one-note with his hands, planting, dropping his head and swinging a stiff overhand. Cruz often slipped and skipped off laterally, but if he did retreat linearly, Benavidez knew to pursue until Cruz was leaning back and chop the legs.
Another nuance was timing, Benavidez was able to read the entries of Cruz and intercept, even with straight punches, several times. If he saw Cruz loading up, Benavidez would dart in and smother, knocking Cruz off balance or pushing him back and stifling the entry.
As the fight went on and Benavidez was worn out a touch by wrestling, he did a lot more chasing and throwing himself out of position. Even so, he showed plenty of advanced looks and pursued a winning gameplan with efficacy.
Grappling
Benavidez’s own offensive takedowns and top game were not on display against Cruz, although they were also at a fairly high level even by this point.
Instead, this fight was a testament to his defensive ability. As covered in the article detailing Cruz’s wrestling in the WEC, he was able to complete takedowns consistently on Benavidez by feinting his entries and changing levels as Benavidez predictably swung back at him. This susceptibility is a testament to how well Cruz blended his striking and wrestling, and how Benavidez had failed to do so.
Scrambling is truly only one aspect of grappling, especially scrambling that would not look at all out of place in a folkstyle wrestling match, with little to no consideration for jiu jitsu. With that being said, even if it’s only one solitary skill, Benavidez excels.
CLIP: Joseph Benavidez scrambles out from under Dominick Cruz (2009)
Team Alpha Male had been criticized in the past for being “all overhands and guillotines.” True to form, Benavidez was often quick to fish for his guillotine, not only in transition, but from his own full guard. What sets Benavidez apart is that he used the threat of the guillotine to force Cruz to change his posture, freeing up space for Benavidez to get his hips back and stand up.
While he was unsuccessful, which is fine considering Cruz’s wrestling ability, Benavidez also showed that he had the timing and conceptual understanding to level change for shots of his own off Cruz’s striking entries.
Benavidez was able to consistently sprawl and angle off with his whizzer against Cruz’s infamous underhook knee tap, one of his most successful takedowns.
While he gave up awful positions in the process, Benavidez repeatedly gave up his back, stood and cut, even when starting from the bottom of full mount. Watching these scrambles, there are improvements Cruz could make in his own grappling, but the main factor is that Benavidez is extremely physical and aware on the mat, he’s a tough man to hold down.
It didn’t come up quite as much as his other tactics, but Benavidez also utilized an arm spin or “ghost” escape from bottom side control immediately off of a Cruz takedown. This is another Team Alpha Male special, as we’ll see with Urijah Faber.
Rating
The above sections mostly highlight the positive aspects of Benavidez’s performance in his first fight with Dominick Cruz. On the feet, he was still fairly predictable, although he had the right idea and was sticking to his gameplan with enthusiasm. He could plant and counter on many Cruz entries, but if that failed and he was forced to take the entry seriously, his defense was lacking. It’s worth mentioning that the striking mechanics of Benavidez have their own inherent flaws as well, and they manifested in this fight by forcing Benavidez to expend a lot more energy than necessary.
Benavidez’s scrambling looked transcendent from certain positions, but he was held down for long periods at times when Cruz was able to stick him in guard. You also have to consider that Cruz was able to exploit the predictability of his counters to find his takedown entries.
One important note that has not been mentioned is that for the entirety of his bantamweight career, Benavidez was a flyweight. It’s not that I hold it against Benavidez, but it does affect his rating when we think of “how tough of an out are they”, especially when that’s framed around him fighting at bantamweight.
Joseph Benavidez was immensely talented even in 2009, but he was still mostly an aggressive, athletic fighter with a few tricks and a couple of great ideas. I landed on a rating of 79, just below what I’d consider elite.
Quality Win #2: 2010 Joseph Benavidez (84)
What a difference one year can make.
In their title rematch, Joseph Benavidez greatly improved upon his admirable first performance against Dominick Cruz, this time, for the title.
Striking
The first, and perhaps most important change seen in Benavidez was patience. He did not bite on every Cruz entry, picking his shots much more deliberately. This allowed him to conserve energy, make deeper observations, and avoid opening himself up for easy takedown entries. It also helps that Benavidez wasn’t chasing after Cruz nearly as often.
Only one year removed from their last fight, Benavidez had already begun to morph into the more measured counter fighter we see today.
The looks given to Cruz became more advanced, Benavidez mixed up the direction and angles of his kicks, even kicking his way into the pocket where he could counter Cruz. Overall, Benavidez was clearly more comfortable intercepting Cruz, his counters were relatively clean and he was able to wait until it was clearly a striking entry, rather than a takedown, to fire back.
Benavidez showed off head movement other than ducking or level changing, a rare skill in MMA. Something we’ll see soon from Urijah Faber is striking off clinch breaks, an important habit to develop when fighting Cruz, a fighter who is often backing off with his hands down.
CLIP: Joseph Benavidez gives Dominick Cruz all he can handle on the feet (2010)
Benavidez did not lose any of the qualities that made him successful against Cruz in their first fight, and added several advanced competencies and tools like feints, body work and lateral movement.
In my opinion, this is the fight where Benavidez showed he had gone from an athlete who could strike, to an athletic striker.
Grappling
While still a mad scrambler, Benavidez looked markedly improved positionally as a wrestler. Much of that was likely due to his improvement as a striker, he was able to keep his hips back without throwing himself out of stance quite as often.
Even in scrambles, Benavidez was much more careful, adapting the escapes he used in their last fight to be safer and more effective. Take a look at how when Benavidez rolls to give up his back, he’s already escaping out the back door instead of looking to stand, preventing Cruz from putting his hooks in.
CLIP: Joseph Benavidez shuts down and escapes from Dominick Cruz (2010)
Rating
This is the fight where Benavidez became elite.
While he did still have some similar issues, and got a bit sloppier in the championship rounds, he showed all the tools that the best fighters in the world should, without sacrificing any of his strengths.
Benavidez looked so good in fact, many believe he deserved to win the decision against the all-time great. For his composure and depth, I bumped up Joseph Benavidez to an 84 for this performance.
Quality Win #3: 2011 Urijah Faber (88)
This may or may not come as a surprise to some, considering Faber’s seniority at Team Alpha Male, but when he fought Dominick Cruz in 2011, he was clearly a technically inferior fighter compared to Joseph Benavidez.
For that reason, I will not be devoting a section-by-section breakdown of Faber’s performance as I did with Benavidez.
CLIP: Urijah Faber hunts for the knockout vs. Dominick Cruz (2011)
He pursued some of the same ideas Benavidez did - kicking the legs, hooking off of Cruz’s entries. However, most of Faber’s consistent success on the feet came from collisions. Faber would spring forward and bomb on Cruz, typically timing the beginning of an entry. In similar situations, Cruz would change levels and look to wrestle off of Faber’s charges, typically leading to clinch situations, where Faber would strike off the breaks.
His defense wasn’t porous, in his static stance Faber did a decent job slipping and stepping out of range, but his own entries were fairly irresponsible.
Like Benavidez, Faber did target the body at times and used round kicks to interrupt lateral movement. In fact, he took it a step further and unleashed on Cruz after the low kick, when he knew precisely where Cruz’s chin would be.
Part of the reason Faber could wing shots at Cruz with relative impunity was his talent as a wrestler and scrambler. To this day, Faber has proven to be nearly impossible to hold down, not even all-time great MMA wrestler Frankie Edgar could do it at featherweight.
CLIP: Urijah Faber wrestles and scrambles with Dominick Cruz (2011)
If you’ve looked into the two linked Dominick Cruz wrestling articles, you’ve seen his efficacy as a takedown artist and chain wrestler. Faber made every single exchange an absolute dogfight, he was never held down and was quick to whizzer or hit the ghost escape to avoid any dominant positions. He even briefly scored his own takedown, before being reversed with the fat man roll.
Rating
So why does Faber earn a higher rating than Benavidez? From a skill perspective, Faber’s wrestling savvy and physicality was superior, Cruz being the measuring stick. His striking did not appear to be as diverse or thoughtful as Benavidez, but he did do more with less, fully capitalizing on his best opportunities.
I feel at his core, Faber’s best attribute has always been his athleticism. He’s bull strong, fast, mobile, and rarely if ever tires. Benavidez is plenty spry, but Faber is in another tier in that department. Faber’s physicality is battle tested, he’s been able to keep up with the top of a competitive division despite little to no skill growth in years. As far as “tough outs” go, Faber is a lot more of a challenge than his skills on paper suggest.
Quality Win #4: 2011 Demetrious Johnson (85)
This may seem low for the fighter I have ranked #2 all-time on my own pound-for-pound list. It should be noted that Johnson was notably undersized while fighting at 135, and was reportedly not even training full-time until he made the move down to flyweight.
Striking
Even in that form, Johnson was able to effectively pressure Dominick Cruz like no one had before. He never threw himself out of stance while pressing forward with strikes, and upon collision, followed Cruz by taking measured lateral steps. Even more impressive was Johnson’s use of what I sometimes call “short offense”, essentially striking off ties on the wrists, forearms, elbows and collar.
Even when Cruz did elude him, Johnson was quick to turn and cut him off again, keeping Cruz trapped against the cage. While some of this pressuring footwork was based on speed, its efficacy is rarely seen in MMA.
CLIP: Demetrious Johnson gives Dominick Cruz fits on the feet (2011)
This is perhaps a small detail to be impressed by, but because the rear straight was such a consistent tool from Johnson in closing the distance, he tended to use the lead round kick on the end of his combination to cut off Cruz’s retreat.
At times Johnson pressed in with weaving head movement and lead hooked off his jab to catch Cruz circling off with his hands down. Hooking off the jab is a fairly basic tool in boxing, but is sorely underutilized in MMA, especially from pressure fighters.
Johnson showed a high level of awareness and positioning, parrying Cruz entries and cutting off retreats with his footwork, placing him right in front of a completely defenseless Cruz.
Demetrious Johnson jabbed, he moved his head, he punted the legs, he cut off retreats, he hung in the pocket, evaded and countered, he struck off the clinch. Johnson showed a deeper tool kit than both Benavidez and Faber before him, he did it with speed and mobility, so why has he earned a relatively low rating?
Grappling
As was the case with Joseph Benavidez, the ease with which Dominick Cruz was able to get to offensive grappling positions sets him back.
Johnson’s strategic choice to pressure consistently was likely his best avenue for success, but it also led to frequent clashes with Cruz that gave him clinch positions. Once they were tied up, it was pretty clear that the combination of Cruz’s size and wrestling acumen were going to be far too much for the future flyweight.
To his credit, Johnson did his absolute best to push his positional and technical advantages, shooting on Cruz when his base was compromised, performing technical standups, posting on the head or shoulders and shrimping his hips out, using leglock attempts to debase Cruz and scramble to better positions.
CLIP: Demetrious Johnson fights back against a wrestling-minded Dominick Cruz (2011)
Johnson even caught Cruz standing tall against the cage and finished a clean double entry, taking down the champion.
Rating
This isn’t a knock on Johnson, but he was held down for long stretches and controlled by Dominick Cruz. This is not something you can say for Urijah Faber, and something that is less true for Joseph Benavidez, a similarly undersized bantamweight.
An impressively well-rounded and nuanced Demetrious Johnson only scoring as an 85 should indicate what it takes to be considered a rating-worthy entity. The next entry should demonstrate the minimum threshold of physical threat plus skill required to make the cut.
Quality Win #5: 2014 Takeya Mizugaki (72)
This is a fight where we saw next to nothing from Mizugaki indicating his form. Cruz entered with a dart, angled back at Mizugaki and blew him off his feet with a beautiful double leg. Catching him out of position from referee’s, Cruz battered Mizugaki with ground and pound until the fight was called off.
At the very least, we know Mizugaki’s durability was not excellent, nor was his ability to deal with Cruz’s multi-directional entries.
Outside of this fight, Mizugaki was on the best win streak of his career, over decent quality opposition. It’s unfair to dig too deep back into that streak, so we’ll look at his preceding fight against Francisco Rivera.
CLIP: Takeya Mizugaki shows off his boxing vs. Francisco Rivera (2014)
I would like to reiterate that a rating isn’t an indication of how tough a fighter would be as a matchup for their opponent in that bout, but how tough they’d be for anyone in general, in a pound-for-pound sense.
At a basic level, Takeya Mizugaki is a decently advanced boxer with a competent top game and serviceable cardio. If we took the time to compare what he brings to the table to top five fighters in lower quality men’s divisions, I think you’d find he’d fit right in, although he leaves a to be desired as a physical threat.
As a boxer, Mizugaki shows off plenty of tactics and attacks that fighters in heavier divisions do not have to deal with. Off the bat Mizugaki is sliding in on his lead straight entry, pushing off on the counter attempt of Rivera and lever punching with that same rear hand, slapping with a hook on Rivera’s way out.
Mizugaki was able to dip and counter off of Rivera’s telegraphed, but explosive hooks. Even Mizugaki’s ability to put his hands together in tight combinations without destroying his stance or leaving himself defenseless can be considered advanced for MMA. On the physical side, Mizugaki’s accurate punches clearly sting, several times he dropped the ultra-tough Rivera, who was knocked out only once in nearly 20 pro fights.
The Japanese veteran showed some slick looks in the clinch as well, underhooking and controlling wrists with his back to the cage, then using his head as a lever to gain a dominant angle and reverse position.
While Mizugaki can look a bit stiff, his timing and composure allow him to get the better of more athletic fighters in the pocket. This is a fighter who could have made Cruz pay for some of his worse habits, had he not played to his strengths and capitalized early.
Mizugaki demonstrated deficits in both his physical and technical grappling game, against a striker in Rivera. He’s far from useless on the mat, but it’s hard to point to any clear strengths in that area.
Quality Win #6: 2016 TJ Dillashaw (93)
As Dillashaw is on The Fight Site’s all-time pound-for-pound list, a featured individual breakdown on his game and career has been provided. I encourage you to read through that article, written by the unheralded Josh Yandle.
I am confident Dillashaw’s ability as an athlete, technician and competitor will be demonstrated in that article, justifying his solid “A” rating. It was a close decision, but by far the greatest win of Cruz’s career.
UPDATE: I made a video. Enjoy!
Quality Win #7: 2016 Urijah Faber (80)
As I alluded to earlier, Urijah Faber’s game did not change very much over the years.
His physical ability and desire to compete hard has waxed and waned in recent performances, his fight with Cruz was particularly uninspired after he was dropped by a shifting overhand.
To look into how Faber still accounted well for himself as a wrestler and grappler, please reference the breakdown of Cruz’s wrestling in his UFC career.
For Faber’s noted decline in athleticism and efficacy, he dropped several rating points.
Concluding Thoughts
This will strike many as a peculiar way to assess a fighter’s greatness.
But, from my perspective, to analyze the skills of Cruz himself would be a judgment of “best”, not “greatest”. Greatest is a measure of achievement, and in MMA, the basic unit of achievement is a win.
The ratings themselves are certainly arbitrary. Even among analysts with whom I share many opinions with, there will be rampant disagreements about where exactly a fighter falls on a 0-100 scale, who is worthy of the minimum “70” rating, and so on. What I can do is establish a baseline, and provide evidence to justify ratings comparatively.
You can reference my own articles on the greatest of all time (#16 Joseph Benavidez, #11 Eddie Alvarez) to compare and contrast more examples of rated fighters. I hope you enjoyed some newfound context on the best wins of Dominick Cruz’s career.