UFC
Dominick Cruz explains reasoning behind taking three round fight with Takeya Mizugaki at UFC 178 over Title bout
Jul 22, 2014 - 11:45:11 PM Dominick Cruz explains reasoning behind taking three round fight with Takeya Mizugaki at UFC 178 over Title bout

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Dominick Cruz returns to action in September after almost three full years away from the cage. When he does, it will be in a three round fight with Takeya Mizugaki at UFC 178, rather than a five round fight for the UFC Bantamweight Championship that he never actually lost.

It's a sensible move as he's not had any live action since October of 2011, but Cruz also doesn't see Mizugaki as a so-called "tune up" fight. Instead, he believes the workload in training for a three round bout will allow him to come back with the confidence he needs to build into that title fight.

"Mizugaki is up for the title next. He's on a five-fight win streak and he is looking at a title shot. He is top five and he is up there in the contender's position," Cruz said in an interview with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour (transcribed by MMAMania.com). "So for me, that is a very tough fight, first of all. Second of all, I didn't take [an offered immediate title] fight because when I jumped into that Barao training camp, that's when I realized that it wasn't about fighting the fight that's the problem, it was about doing the workload of a five-round camp."

"I don't think anyone in the world understands except for a fighter that when you go from a three-round camp to a five-round camp, the amount of workload just skyrockets," he continued. "It can't even be compared, you literally are working, it's like going from a 35 hour a week job to a 55 hour a week job and you're not getting any more pay. So it's like, you're working your butt off and you're doing everything you can. For a three round fight, I can work my body back and get myself strong so that when I get to that title contention spot, I'm ready to go and I don't have to have any guess as to how tough my body and muscle structure is. Everything will be a slow process and I will be back in there."

"Now, a lot of people might view this as, 'He's taking a tune up or warm up fight.' Well, tune up or warm up fights do not exist in MMA. That's a boxing thing and it doesn't happen in MMA. So going against a top five guy right off is big feat for me and I'm excited to do it. It's a challenge. Mizugaki is extremely durable, tough and has a lot of cardio. It's a big challenge for and I'm up for it. After feeling by body in that five-round camp I realized that I need to take my time for this camp because that's the hard part. The fight itself is the easy fun part. That's why I come out smiling, I'm loving life on the night of fighting. Training camp is a whole other demon in itself."

Penick's Analysis: As a year out turned into two years, then turned into two and a half and on, it became clear that putting Cruz right into a title fight just wasn't what was best for him in coming back. That was for a number of reasons, but the way he describes it here is key as well. Just training for a five round fight rather than a three round fight is a different beast, and when he hasn't had any fight in three years, taking a bit of a lighter load for his first fight back is the sensible, reasonable thing to do. Now, if he beats Mizugaki soundly, a fight with the winner of T.J. Dillashaw vs. Renan Barao would be a realistic move. If he just edges past him, maybe he needs another three rounder to prepare for before getting back there. Either way, he needs to win no matter what, and from there they can move on with him back in the fold. Getting the first fight out of the way is what's needed now.