Two years, eleven months, and twenty seven days.
That’s how long Dominick Cruz had been out of action until his comeback fight last Saturday, a period of time that saw him suffer through two ACL reconstructions, several extended periods of rehabilitation, and the loss of his belt. And while Cruz was sidelined, a lot of things changed in the division he once ruled. Renan Barao, a veritable unknown at the time of Cruz’s last title defense, became interim champion by defeating Cruz’s old rival, Urijah Faber. When it became clear that Cruz wouldn’t be coming back anytime soon, Barao was promoted to undisputed champion. And then, in one of the biggest upsets in MMA history, TJ Dillashaw beat Barao mercilessly till his battered face resembled the colors of the Brazilian flag he had carried into the Octagon, becoming the new bantamweight king.
Dillashaw, they say, has a style much like Cruz’s own, except that Dillashaw is a bonafide finisher, with eight of his eleven wins coming by way of submission or knockout. Even Dillashaw himself claims to have stumbled across his style, one replete with tricky footwork and hands-down bravado, while emulating Cruz for his teammate Urijah Faber. The implication in all of this talk seems to be that Dillashaw has become what Cruz could have been. Cruz reborn, but better.
Until Saturday, it seemed that idea would never be tested. Even when Cruz’s comeback fight with Takeya Mizugaki was announced, fans were reluctant to believe that he would make it to the cage healthy. When Cruz stood smiling and flexing on the scale the day before the event, his return seemed perilously close to fruition, so close that to dare hope would surely only jinx the former champion. So we held onto our reservations. Even if Cruz did make it to the Octagon, we reminded ourselves, Mizugaki would be a difficult test–too difficult, perhaps, for a man almost three years removed from competition, dominant as he may once have been. Never had Cruz seemed so unlikely to make it past an opponent.
The horn sounded. The round began. It took him sixty-one seconds.
Dominick Cruz, winner by knockout. A phrase almost too alien to be real, and yet there it was: the most crushing loss of Mizugaki’s career, and the former champion the arbiter of his destruction. Not only had Cruz returned, but he had done the one thing of which he had seemed incapable during his championship reign. He finished an elite mixed martial artist, and barely broke a sweat in the process. Of all the storylines which emerged from UFC 178, this one was quite possibly the best.
Today we delve into the details of Cruz’s triumphant return. Brief as it was, there is much to glean from the Domin8r’s dominating win. After all, it’s not often we see one of the most complete athletes in MMA get better.
The “Soft Right” and the Takedown
Cruz is probably best known for his boxing. His footwork and unorthodox punches are the most eye-catching aspects of his game, and the ones his opponents usually struggle with the most. It’s easy to forget, then, that Cruz’s greatest strength is his wrestling. His set-ups, entries, finishes, and top control are all nearly flawless. These are the tools Cruz will likely need to utilize most in his imminent matchup with the lightning quick TJ Dillashaw, just as he did the last time he faced an opponent whose speed rivaled his own, the current flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson. In that fight, Cruz struggled to make his boxing effective in its own right, but he was able to get Johnson focused enough on his boxing to hit some truly magnificent takedowns.
Against Mizugaki, Cruz demonstrated that a twice-reconstructed ACL hasn’t done anything to hamper his clever takedown set-ups. One of his most reliable entries is built off of Cruz’s “soft” right hand, a cross thrown less for power and more for distance coverage and the taking of angles.
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1. Cruz bounces around just out of range.
2. Suddenly dropping into a wider, lower stance, he lunges left-foot-first toward Mizugaki . . .
3. . . . and connects with a right hand.
4. Falling forward with the punch, Cruz allows his right foot to drift toward Mizugaki as he changes levels.
5. Ducking under Mizugaki’s counter right hand Cruz, now effectively standing southpaw, drives through Mizugaki’s hips and completes the takedown.
Must Reads
For more on the details of Cruz’s takedown finish, check out yesterday’s analysis of Cruz’s blast double by BE’s own Coach Mike Riordan.
For our purposes today, I’m more interested in analyzing his brilliant set-up. Ordinarily it would be inadvisable for a fighter to fall forward on a cross the way Cruz does in frames 3 and 4. Lunging at his foe, Cruz overextends himself and needs to bring his right foot forward to catch himself. Essentially, he momentarily loses balance and compromises his stance, giving Mizugaki a viable opportunity to counter and catch him in a vulnerable position, something that has happened to him in the past (GIF).
This is very much a calculated risk on Cruz’s part, however. Falling into the pocket the way he does, Cruz does indeed need to bring his right foot forward to catch himself, but more importantly he wants to bring that foot forward in order to seize and finish his double leg takedown. Wrestlers, you see, are taught to take what’s called a penetration step as they initiate their takedowns. The idea is to get the power leg–in Cruz’s case, his right leg–under the opponent’s hips so that the wrestler can easily drive him upward, backward, and ultimately down to the ground. Switching to southpaw mid-punch, Cruz effectively hides this step, penetrating Mizugaki’s stance and countering his counter with a powerful takedown.
This is part of the reason MMA is, and probably always will be, a wrestler’s sport. It’s far easier for a grappler with a good blast double to get by on sub-par striking technique–in fact, it can often help him utilize his wrestling–than it is for a striker with substandard grappling to do everything so perfectly on the feet that he never gets taken down.
Fortunately for Cruz, he is neither a wrestler with substandard striking, nor a striker with substandard wrestling. He is both a striker and wrestler, who utilizes unorthodox techniques to enhance both disciplines as two inseparable parts of a fantastic whole. He expanded on this concept as he methodically worked to capitalize on the success of his takedown and keep Mizugaki from clawing his way back into the fight.
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GIF
1. Mizugaki stands and begins attacking Cruz’s hands in an effort to break his body lock.
2. Cruz keeps his arms cinched tight around his opponent and takes a hard step left as Mizugaki stumbles toward the fence.
3. Timing his move perfectly, Cruz drives in the direction of his left foot, dragging Mizugaki back to the canvas.
4. Mizugaki posts his left hand on the canvas in order to work his way back to his feet.
5. Quickly, his bodyweight keeping Mizugaki down, Cruz pops the Japanese fighter with a left hand to the temple.
6. Mizugaki collapses his posted arm and turtles in order to better protect himself from Cruz’s punches.
In wrestling, competitors are taught to immediately attack the wrists following a mat return such as the one Cruz hit in frame 3. The idea is to continue breaking the opponent down after returning him to the ground–as you can see, Mizugaki’s first instinct in frame 4 is to post an arm on the floor and start working to stand up. By controlling the wrist of that arm Cruz would be able to prevent Mizugaki from standing and proceed to break him down, flatten him out, and ultimately pin him.
Of course, that’s the pure wrestling approach, and if you’ve read this far you already know that Cruz’s greatest strength is not in his grappling or his striking, but in the way he blends the two together. Why engage Mizugaki in a pure grappling match when a few precise punches could accomplish the same goal, and accumulate damage in the process? With that in mind, Cruz allows Mizugaki to post, and simply hammers him in the face with his fist. At this point Mizugaki has two choices: continue to struggle to his feet while being punched in the side of the head, or relinquish what little upward progress his posted arm has given him and turtle to protect himself from Cruz’s devastating blows.
Unsurprisingly, he chooses option two.
This is where there seems to be a clear improvement to Cruz’s game. Whereas he was always exceptional at transitioning from boxing to wrestling, his integration of strikes into his grappling was usually less impressive. Make no mistake, Cruz has displayed some excellent ground and pound in the past–the elbows he landed on Scott Jorgensen in his final WEC defense come to mind–but it always seemed to be an afterthought. He would land some punches, score the takedown, and then throw strikes when his opponent regained guard. Effective, but not optimal. Now, however, Cruz seems much more keen on turning wrestling exchanges into MMA exchanges, to his great advantage.
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1. Cruz sprawls against Mizugaki’s hips, crushing him into the fence while pounding away with his left hand.
2. After several clean punches, Mizugaki finally manages to post and stifle Cruz’s arm in an awkward underhook.
3. Mizugaki begins to rise, and Cruz senses it. Taking the initiative, he stands to keep his weight above Mizugaki’s hips, and presses him down with a headlock.
4. Once again Cruz abandons a pure wrestling progression and opts to turn the tide with striking; a left hand to the temple sends Mizugaki tumbling to his left . . .
5. . . . right into Cruz’s favorite punch, his right hook.
6. Cruz jumps on Mizugaki with another right, which misses, but allows him to bodily drive him back to the ground.
7. Once gain Mizugaki starts working to stand up, this time sliding his right hand (circled) around Cruz’s waist. Given enough space this will allow him to drive into Cruz and work for a takedown of his own.
8. Cruz doesn’t give him that space. He smashes Mizugaki’s head down with a frame, or front quarter-nelson (circled).
9. Now Mizugaki’s underhook is turned against him, as he finds himself pinned to the fence with his right arm trapped behind Cruz’s back, and thus unable to block Cruz’s punches.
Cruz has never lacked for killer instinct. In the past he was always quick to jump on a weakened opponent. What he lacked, however, was finishing potential. Not since 2008 has Cruz finished an opponent with strikes, and the unfortunate victim (Kenneth Aimes) would go on to compile a career record of 1-5, being finished in all five losses. In other words, Dominick Cruz has never been a finisher. Until now he lacked both knockout power, and the ability to rack up damage with accumulated strikes.
And while Cruz will probably never be a power puncher, the Mizugaki win offers some encouraging evidence that he has learned to maximize his offensive positions in order to build up the damage necessary to stop his opponents. It’s impossible to say, after just one finish against elite competition, that Cruz will continue to knock opponents out in the remainder of his career, but if you ask Takeya Mizugaki, the former champion certainly seems to be headed down that path.