UFC President Dana White stated that this past weekend’s stand out performance at UFC 178 had earned former Bantamweight Champion Dominick Cruz the next shot at the title. Cruz, fighting after a nearly 3 year absence from the cage was still a 4 to 1 favorite over Takeya Mizugaki, but finishing the fight in just over 1 minute sent the audible message ‘Dominick Cruz is back’.
But is he really back? He looked comfortable in the minute he was in the octagon, and he seized the moment and finished, but there are still a lot of open questions about Cruz. Unlike female competitor Cat Zingano, who also returned to action at UFC 178 after a layoff of over a year, Cruz did not test his body out with 10 minutes of fighting, and that is going to be the big question with Cruz.
At 20-1 and with a solid reign as UFC champion under his belt, Cruz is deserving of a title shot as soon as his body is able to hold up. T.J. Dillashaw is a rugged competitor who earned the title in a stand out performance over Renan Barao, and has since had a title defense against unranked Joe Soto to become accustomed to the idea of being champion.
Cruz return to main event status is a much needed shot in the arm for the bantamweight class. Barao, the former champion, has unraveled to the point where he may not have an immediate title shot given to him when he is able to return. With Dillashaw holding the title and a top 5 in the division spot taken up by Dillashaw teammate Urijah Faber, Cruz is the best contender there.
Yes the match this weekend for Cruz was a good thing to see and his return is a positive for the sport, but he enters the title match with a lot to prove in terms of his durability still. We will see when the UFC schedules this bout, however it will likely fall as a co-main event one of the big PPV shows, or it could headline one of the televised events. We will see if te UFC rushes into the match for one of the December shows, or puts it out into 2015.
Either way, with a short training camp or an extended period of preparation, the risk that Cruz gets hurt in training is still something that will be in the back of everyone’s mind.
