

Photo by Brandon Magnus/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

He’s back. Sixty one seconds was all it took for Dominick Cruz to prove to everyone that he wasn’t going to be a victim of time.

Living up to his “Dominator” nickname, Cruz starched number five ranked Takeya Mizugaki in uncharacteristic Dominick Cruz style. Pre-injury Cruz was known for his perpetual motion offense, game plans that yielded world titles through decision victories.

Cruz, surrendering to the moment, starched Mizugaki, chaining his strikes with his ground work beautifully to lay the gauntlet at the feet of the reigning king TJ Dillashaw.

With Cruz’ return, the Tucson native made it clear that he was returning to reclaim what was rightfully his. A division he’s watched from the side-lines, as Team Alpha Male capitalized and developed, creating a champion based on Cruz himself. That had to spur him on, that had to keep him fighting through the three years of hell.

His last fight was just before the Fox era, meaning a generation of fans know him as an analyst, not as a pioneer of the bantamweights. As the final WEC Bantamweight champion, Cruz garnered eyes to the lighter weight division due to his unique in cage approach and technical prowess. But he did not do it alone.

Every division has a reason why fans pay attention. Every era has its own rivalries. For the bantamweights, it has always been Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber’s Team Alpha Male. It’s a feud that, after seven years, is stronger than ever.

Faber, the face of the WEC, is notable for building Team Alpha Male, a team formed from Faber’s own contacts and infectious personality. The early years saw contenders living together in a commune style “block” of houses, creating a family bond that built Joseph Benavidez, Chad Mendes and now champion TJ Dillashaw into stars in their own right.



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A 21 year-old Cruz challenged Urijah Faber for the WEC featherweight title in 2007, amid Faber’s ascension as an MMA superstar. Faber guillotined a green Cruz in 98 seconds to defend the title, and give Cruz his only loss.

This would spark a feud that has come to define each man. Faber, the beloved “California Kid” was the natural face, a fun loving surfer archetype with a positive attitude and an inquisitive mind toward community and human development.

Cruz, with a chip on his shoulder and less confident on the mike was portrayed as a resentful heel, with Faber picking out his personality traits of running on negativity, believing that Cruz paradoxically has always been jealous of his success.

Cruz began working with Eric Del Firo at Alliance MMA, where he fused his wrestling ability with a peek a boo boxing style that crafted the most unique skill set in the WEC. Dropping to Bantamweight, Cruz is still undefeated, along the way capturing the WEC Bantamweight title, and engaging Urijah Faber protégé Joseph Benavidez twice, improving his record against the team to 2-1.

Benavidez pushed Cruz into deep waters during their encounters. Take away skill, grit and determination and each man’s mental state. At the core of those fights you have Cruz trying to cement himself as a fighter. Proving his worth to the MMA world, and doing so while forcing Faber to watch helplessly in the corner.

At the final WEC card, Cruz defeated Scott Jorgenson (a friend of Team Alpha Male) to become the final WEC bantamweight champion and the first UFC bantamweight champion. Standing amidst cheers from the Glendale crowd, wearing both belts, Cruz jumped on the mic and immediately called out Faber.

That’s a champion, calling out a contender. Very suddenly their dichotomy had changed. Cruz held all the marbles. He had two world titles in his hands, and he still wanted more. In the first UFC bantamweight title fight at UFC 132, Cruz and Faber engaged in a fight of the night performance, which saw Cruz dropped multiple times, but ultimately outland Faber to retain his title.

Each man gained something from this rivalry. A wise man learns more from his enemies than he does from his friends and for Cruz, it gave him a target, a loss to avenge and ultimately grow from. For Urijah, it gave him a rival, a person to showcase him as a three dimensional athlete, along with fueling his competitive mentality.

With the scorecard reading 3-1, Cruz and Faber would defeat Demetrious Johnson and Brian Bowles respectively to set up a trilogy fight, but not before coaching opposite each other on The Ultimate Fighter: Live.

The trilogy would never come true, as during filming Cruz tore his ACL, an act that would lead to his near retirement and three years away from the Octagon. The bantamweight championship meanwhile would change hands twice, first going to Renan Barao, before TJ Dillashaw picked the Brazilian apart at UFC 173.

All of this leads us to UFC 178, and the first glimpse of the former champion. Cruz went out there on instinct, and unleashed years of pent up frustration. The mental anguish he’s had to endure, watching his body fail him over and over. He believed the experience would either make him or break him.

In the aftermath of Cruz’s performance, UFC president Dana White confirmed that Dillashaw vs Cruz is next. That’s Cruz vs Team Alpha Male V for those keeping score. For Dillashaw, he’s going to be facing the toughest test of his career, going up against an incredibly focused contender, a man who he has mimicked in training for Faber repeatedly, and even built his style off of.

This fight is a legitimate question of legacy. For Dillashaw, a win would be momentous. To take back wins from Dominick Cruz and Barao over Urijah Faber, Dillashaw can make a major play to all the movers and shakers of the division. That the changing of the guard has happened, and regardless of the rivalries and feuds, the throne is his.

If Cruz wins, then everything that has happened in the Bantamweight title picture in his absence will always have the shroud of being all for nought. That without Cruz in the title picture, it created opportunities for Barao and Dillashaw that perhaps would have never come to fruition. It also allows Cruz another victory over Faber.

If Cruz wins, he will have beaten generations of Team Alpha Male members and solidified himself not only as the greatest bantamweight of his generation, but one of the greatest comeback stories in MMA history.

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