Coach Expects ‘Best Version’ Of Dominick Cruz Upon Return
Dominick Cruz is widely considered to be the very best bantamweight of all-time, but he surrendered his title in a somewhat shocking one-sided decision loss to Cody Garbrandt at this past December’s UFC 207 from Las Vegas, a loss that marked just the second of Cruz’s professional career.
Cruz has dealt with adversity for the majority of his career due to a grueling history of injuries, but losing the title represented a set back inside of the Octagon for “The Dominator”, something he isn’t very used to. Nonetheless, his longtime coach Eric Del Fierro recently said dealing with Cruz hasn’t changed much after the loss:
“It’s no different than dealing with Dominick after a win,” Del Fierro told MMA Fighting recently. “You go back and you look at what went great, and you look at what went wrong. We do that when we win, as well. This sport is evolving everyday, and we knew this was going to be a tough fight — there’s no such thing as Dominick having an easy fight, period. Win or lose, he knows what he needs to do. He knows what little mistakes to work on, and what Cody shined on. At this point, it’s just sitting back and making the right decision on when he wants to fight again.”
Cruz’s next fight has yet to be booked, but Del Fierro is expecting the ‘best version’ of “The Dominator” upon his return. As he put it, the former champion was able to learn ‘a lot about himself’ from the loss:
“He’s learned a lot about himself and who he is. And honestly, fighting is a big part of his life, but it’s something he’s still having fun with. When it becomes a job, or when it becomes more than that, maybe it’ll be too much of him. But right now he loves it, and he’s looking forward to competing again. I think this is the best version of Dominick that’ll be coming back to fight again.”
While Cruz has seemed to take the best out of the disappointing loss, Del Fierro confirmed that he is in no way happy with how his fight with Gabrandt played out:
“Don’t get me wrong, Dominick is human like everybody else,” he said. “There’s no happiness in losing. We’re happy to be alive, happy to be competing, happy to have these gifts, but we’re all competitors here, and he is too. He’s not 100 percent happy with losing, let’s just say that.”
Do you expect Cruz to bounce back when he eventually returns to the Octagon?
