The fight that we never thought would happen, happened yesterday. Scrolling through twitter all I saw was: “Cruz threw Cormier under the bus” or “Cruz rips Cormier in Presser”. So I did what I do best, and that is to procrastinate. I waited a full 24hour news cycle to see how the story would develop before committing to a 15 minute YouTube video of Dominick Cruz talking. What he said was a direct shot toward Cormier but in no way was it malicious. Cruz is an honest and very candid person. He’s know for even bickering with Joe Rogan live when they disagreed. Oddly enough, Cruz championed Rogan in his anti work ethic rant three days before his fight vs Pedro Munhoz at UFC 269.
Cruz told the media that he felt, with good reason, that Cormier doesn’t watch fights other than at the actual event and that he isn’t as prepared for his broadcasts. To be fair, all analysts can’t be the same.
“I watch (Jon) Anik do so much homework leading up to a fight. Like, people have no idea how much homework he has to do to be prepared for that, and the most kudos, for me, goes to him. He leads us in the broadcast with how he talks. When it comes to DC, I usually mute it,” Cruz said with a cheeky smile.
“I love DC, he’s my friend, but to me, from my experience, he doesn’t do the homework. He wants to get in and out, get the job done, make his money. I think he cares about us, but it’s just different. He doesn’t do the preparation from my experience. He might now. I’m hoping that he watches some film this time, on me, so he knows what I’m doing and why I’m doing it. But I’m not going to hold my breath on that, for sure.”
Cormier has a unique ability to be credible and also be extremely entertaining, that’s a skill in itself. Cruz is the best fighter/analyst that the UFC has. He’s the most technical and studies the game differently where Cormier and Bisping are more into the emotion of the fighter and the mindset. This translates to how all three of them fought in the Octagon, Bisping had big moments and was never outworked while also being amazing on the mic. Cormier was self proclaimed “King of the Grind”, he was able to take his opponents to deep waters with persistence and work but was never the best technical fighter, where Cruz is one of the smartest and most unconventional fighters we have ever seen.
DC was offended and for good reason, his buddy just outed him in front of millions of people. Cormier saves a bit of face here and Cruz comes off as a douche. Cruz asks for DC to breakdown his style and boom, DC came with receipts. He was rattling off combos and how Cruz sets up the double leg. All this to say is that the two don’t hate eachother, Cruz just doesn’t give a S*** about what people think.