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Two-time UFC champion Dominick Cruz wanted to go out on his own terms, but his body had other ideas. Cruz took to social media on Thursday, February 6, and announced his retirement from mixed martial arts in a heartfelt message to fans and the MMA community.
Cruz had hoped to fight Rob Font in a retirement scrap that he had previously referred to as his “last dance,” but a problematic shoulder nixed the fight and forced the 39-year-old to retire.
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA – AUGUST 12: Dominick Cruz poses on the scale during the UFC Fight Night … [+]
Zuffa LLC
Here is a look at the post. With Cruz-Font now off the card, here’s how UFC Seattle looks with 12 fights confirmed:
- Henry Cejudo vs. Song Yadong – Men’s Bantamweight
- Brendan Allen vs. Anthony Hernandez – Middleweight
- Jean Silva vs. Melsik Baghdasaryan – Featherweight
- Curtis Blaydes vs. Rizvan Kuniev – Heavyweight
- Edson Barboza vs. Steve Garcia – Featherweight
- Ion Cuțelaba vs. Ibo Aslan – Light Heavyweight
- Adam Fugitt vs. Billy Ray Goff – Welterweight
- Ketlen Vieira vs. Macy Chiasson – Women’s Bantamweight
- Ricky Simón vs. Javid Basharat – Men’s Bantamweight
- Mansur Abdul-Malik vs. Nick Klein – Middleweight
- Modestas Bukauskas vs. Raffael Cerqueira – Light Heavyweight
- Andre Fili vs. Melquizael Costa – Featherweight
Injuries have been a nasty but consistent part of Cruz’s story since he joined the UFC in July 2011. Cruz was awarded the first-ever UFC men’s bantamweight championship when the promotion absorbed WEC, where he had won the title in 2010 with a victory over Brian Bowles and had defended the belt twice before the merger.
Cruz solidified his standing as champion when he defeated his rival Urijah Faber in his UFC debut in 2011 at UFC 132. The fight was a rematch after Faber had defeated Cruz via submission in their first fight back in March 2007.
Cruz’s reign as UFC champion ended after he missed nearly three years from 2011 to 2014 due to ACL and groin injuries. He returned to reclaim the bantamweight title in 2016 by defeating T.J. Dillashaw, who had won the title in Cruz’s absence.
After a successful defense against Faber in June 2016 to end their trilogy, Cruz lost the title to Cody Garbrandt later that year.
Injuries continued to plague him, keeping him sidelined for years. Cruz returned in 2020 but suffered a KO loss to Henry Cejudo. He did have wins over Casey Kenney and Pedro Munhoz before another KO loss to Marlon Vera in 2022, which will, unfortunately, be the last fight of the legend’s career.
The next stop for Cruz is the UFC Hall of Fame.
What’s Next for the UFC?
The UFC is in Australia. The pay-per-view event is headlined by Dricus du Plessis vs. Sean Strickland. The co-main event has Weili Zhang defending her title against No. 1 contender Tatiana Suarez.
Here is a look at the entire card.
Main Card – 10PM ET
- (C) Dricus du Plessis vs. Sean Strickland – UFC Middleweight Championship
- (C) Weili Zhang vs. Tatiana Suarez – UFC Women’s Strawweight Championship
- Justin Tafa vs. Talisson Teixeira – Heavyweight
- Jimmy Crute vs. Rodolfo Bellato – Light Heavyweight
- Jake Matthews vs. Francisco Prado – Welterweight
Prelims – 8PM ET
- Jack Jenkins vs. Gabriel Santos – Featherweight
- Tom Nolan vs. Viacheslav Borschev – Lightweight
- Wang Cong vs. Bruna Brasil – Women’s Flyweight
- Colby Thicknesse vs. Aleksandre Topuria – Men’s Bantamweight
Early Prelims – 6PM ET
- Jonathan Micallef vs. Kevin Jousset – Welterweight
- Kody Steele vs. Rongzhu – Lightweight
- Quillan Salkilld vs. Anshul Jubli – Lightweight
- HyunSung Park vs. Ayamjargal Tumendemberel – Men’s Flyweight
