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.
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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.
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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.
