Retiring from MMA isn’t easy, and it’s often the most challenging part of a fighter’s career.
Former champions especially struggle with the idea of retirement. A fighter’s career can often go one of three ways: Retire on top like Khabib Nurmagomedov but leave questions unanswered, retire silently and do the same, or retire after a slew of losses, like Anderson Silva or BJ Penn, cementing their legacy but tarnishing their image to the new generation of MMA fans.
UFC Seattle was the planned retirement event for arguably one of the greatest UFC bantamweight fighters of all time, Dominick Cruz, but it looks like he’ll have to leave it for another time.
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Dominick Cruz injured and out of UFC Seattle retirement fight with Rob Font
Cruz was one of those former champions looking to retire on the low, fighting a ranked contender in Rob Font. Fans expected a double-retirement fight for Cruz, such as Jose Aldo, and were bewildered by the decision to throw Font in with ‘The Dominator.’
As for his motivation, Cruz took the Font fight for the fun of it.
Unfortunately, as reported by Cageside Press, Cruz is out of his UFC Seattle fight with an injury, further delaying his retirement fight.
Cruz’s last fight was against Marlon Vera in 2022, where he suffered a highlight-reel head kick knockout in a fight he was winning. Now, 39-year-old Cruz will either be rescheduled later or retire quietly.
Current UFC Seattle lineup
With the absence of Cruz vs. Font, UFC Seattle is down to 12 fights, subject to change:
- #7 Henry Cejudo vs. #8 Song Yadong; Bantamweight
- #9 Brendan Allen vs. #12 Anthony Hernandez; Middleweight
- #15 Edson Barboza vs. Steve Garcia; Featherweight
- Jean Silva vs. Melsik Baghdasaryan; Featherweight
- #5 Curtis Blaydes vs. (debut) Rizvan Kuniev
- #3 Ketlen Vieira vs. #5 Macy Chiasson; W. Bantamweight
- Ion Cutelaba vs. Ibo Aslan; Light Heavyweight
- Modestas Bukauskas vs. Raffael Cerqueira; Light Heavyweight
- Ricky Simon vs. Javid Basharat; Bantamweight
- Andre Fili vs. Melquizael Costa; Featherweight
- Nick Klein vs. Mansur Abdul-Malik; Middleweight
- Adam Fugitt vs. Billy Ray Goff; Welterweight