UFC Fight Night: 1-17-2016 Dillashaw vs. Cruz

ShowtimeFan · Post #1 » by **ShowtimeFan** » Tue Jan 5, 2016 5:57 am

Cruz was good back in the day, but due to injuries, he has fought ONE UFC round since Oct. 2011, that is a lot of ring rust to try and cast off against someone as tough as Dillashaw!

If Cruz loses, I bet he will have wished he had a few tune-ups against some Fighters in the 8 - 15 rankings...

ALSO ON THE CARD: Pettis vs Alvarez might be a better fight overall, I'll take Pettis, he should be mighty hungry after losing his belt...

ON THE PRELIMS: I love watching Ben Saunders, he may not be championship material, but he is such a cool guy, I LOVE how he works off his back - he has rubber-legs, anyone recall in one of his last fights, (I think it was Kenny Robertson) threw Ben down and jumped into the guard and Ben locked him in some head-triangle and proceeded to split his head open with 25 or 30 non-stop elbows to his head, it was so friggen' bloody, but is is awesome when someone can excel from the bottom, it is sort of a lost art in the MMA.

Thoughts?

Jasen777 · Post #2 » by **Jasen777** » Tue Jan 5, 2016 6:29 am

Ring rust might not effect Cruz, it didn't against Mizugaki after all. Really interesting fight.

SDM · Post #3 » by **SDM** » Tue Jan 5, 2016 1:25 pm

Following a thread on another forum started by Ben Saunders about how he's 5th all time in striking accuracy. Seems like a giant, fluffy kid and nice guy.

Cruz vs. the guy who fights exactly like him. Going to have to go with the original. Dilashaw seems to fight on Cruz's footprints... Cruz is more fluid and unpredictable.

Post #4 » by **Shaazzam** » Tue Jan 5, 2016 1:59 pm

Sucks that Felder v. Cruickshank is on fight pass. That's a good fight.
Jesus, this is an awesome card. I can't place Trinaldo, but I love all the main card fights. Pretty stoked for this one... and of course I'll be out of town visiting friends. I swear, they only ever invite us over when there is a UFC card I really want to watch on.

NZB2323 · Post #5 » by **NZB2323** » Tue Jan 5, 2016 2:05 pm

Pettis and Cruz are my 2 favorite fighters. I can't wait for this one.

...On the other hand, a big reason why I got into MMA is that I could relax and watch a fight and not really get upset with who won or loss. If both of them lose it's going to be hard for me to watch. But both of them should win.

REDDzone · Post #6 » by **REDDzone** » Tue Jan 5, 2016 2:28 pm

I want Cruz to win so bad. I was listening to Dom's mmahour interview last week, the one where he goes off and talks about how he could be TJ's coachs' coach at striking. lol, just classic. There are not very many people on the planet with the mma mind that Dom has, its just too bad for him because I'm not sure if he has the body for it.

Cammo101 · Post #7 » by **Cammo101** » Tue Jan 5, 2016 4:12 pm

Jasen777 wrote:Ring rust might not effect Cruz, it didn't against Mizugaki after all. Really interesting fight.

TJ is a totally different animal from Mizugaki....Cruz could run through most of the division with ring rust and we'd never be able to tell.

Never let it be said that Cruz isn't going out of his way to sell this fight. He's been trash talking TJ like crazy leading up to this one.

Cammo101 · Post #8 » by **Cammo101** » Tue Jan 5, 2016 4:13 pm

Shaazzam wrote:Sucks that Felder v. Cruickshank is on fight pass. That's a good fight.
Jesus, this is an awesome card. I can't place Trinaldo, but I love all the main card fights. Pretty stoked for this one... and of course I'll be out of town visiting friends. I swear, they only ever invite us over when there is a UFC card I really want to watch on.

This is the year the UFC finally gets serious about Fight Pass. They are going to continue putting better fights and cards on Fight Pass to make fan get serious about buying the service.

Post #9 » by **Shaazzam** » Tue Jan 5, 2016 4:18 pm

Yeah that makes sense. The bastards. Didn't someone say somewhere here that the relationship with Fox is iffy moving forward?

REDDzone · Post #10 » by **REDDzone** » Tue Jan 5, 2016 4:47 pm

I mentioned that was a rumor, no idea if that is legit or not.

Bernman · Post #11 » by **Bernman** » Tue Jan 5, 2016 7:38 pm

Here we go!!! The comeback trail starts here (for Dom too hopefully). Bout to get real annoying for y'all up in here.

http://www.instagram.com/p/BAJRNdWIjEJ/ (training vid)

Showtime should stay at distance and use dem kicks. But he's got to get controlled aggressive to put Alvarez on the back foot first. He's a very good boxer and is 10 times more effective when aggressive. Unlike the past 3 fights, more like the prior two, Pettis should come out, take the center of the cage, employ lateral movement, briefly box Alvarez backward and push HIM up against the cage, and unleash a kicking fury he can't handle ala Cowboy. Don't want to see Pettis fall in love with his boxing and countering in this fight otherwise it could be a disappointing night. He's the considerably more talented bloke, so it primarily comes down to him to win. Supposedly is training wrestling hard with Israel Martinez, so if the fight goes there, he should have answers.

I guess these fights are on FS1 because they want to use the football playoff matches to promote them right beforehand. Really worked for Conor last year. That's where he really took off.

cowboyronnie · Post #12 » by **cowboyronnie** » Tue Jan 5, 2016 8:05 pm

SDM wrote:Following a thread on another forum started by Ben Saunders about how he's 5th all time in striking accuracy. Seems like a giant, fluffy kid and nice guy.

Cruz vs. the guy who fights exactly like him. Going to have to go with the original. Dilashaw seems to fight on Cruz's footprints... Cruz is more fluid and unpredictable.

Saunders seems pretty dull outside of the ring, strangely. He's done Rogan and Bravo a couple times.

He had no sense on one EBR that being at Din Thomas' gym as they fought homeless guys against one another was ****ed up.

cowboyronnie · Post #13 » by **cowboyronnie** » Tue Jan 5, 2016 8:09 pm

No Familials On The Card Pettis is the best I got.

Jasen777 · Post #14 » by **Jasen777** » Tue Jan 5, 2016 9:46 pm

Cammo101 wrote:TJ is a totally different animal from Mizugaki....Cruz could run through most of the division with ring rust and we'd never be able to tell.

I agree that TJ is on another level than Mizugaki, but that was after 3 years and Cruz looked as good as he ever had, if not better. So I'm not that worried about another year and a half off for him Ring Rust wise (injuries always a concern).

Jasen777 · Post #15 » by **Jasen777** » Tue Jan 5, 2016 9:59 pm

Shaazzam wrote:Yeah that makes sense. The bastards. Didn't someone say somewhere here that the relationship with Fox is iffy moving forward?

UFC has been great for Fox Sports, which is why they stretch events out so much when they're on that channel. Hasn't been good for Big Fox though. What I read was that ESPN is in some trouble due to cord cutting and over paying for rights fees, and may not be a bidder for UFC in the future like the UFC was counting on and so they might be doing more with fightpass in order to pretend they have any leverage at all with Fox.

Bernman · Post #16 » by **Bernman** » Tue Jan 5, 2016 10:57 pm

Jasen777 wrote:UFC has been great for Fox Sports, which is why they stretch events out so much when they're on that channel. Hasn't been good for Big Fox though. What I read was that ESPN is in some trouble due to cord cutting and over paying for rights fees, and may not be a bidder for UFC in the future like the UFC was counting on and so they might be doing more with fightpass in order to pretend they have any leverage at all with Fox.

To remain the worldwide leader, you have to keep on spending money to maintain that position. It's partly how they got there in the first place. But if they are reactively fiscally conservative all of a sudden, it opens the door for Fox Sports, which might be a happy medium for both parties. UFC already has developed an audience there, and proven they can be a success at that level. It might be psychologically tough to drop in stature, and they might take a little financial hit, but in the end be what's best pragmatically for both parties. They try the NBC/NBCSN route or CBS/CBSSports' route? Those are pretty big risks with the weakness of those niche sports channels and the UFC already struggling to go mainstream on the most liberal of all networks. And they aren't going with a full pay/subscription format. Then they'd be back underground pretty much, with a small percentage of casuals. They'd just expand to include the former lower level FS1 cards, and have the higher level ones and big Foxes on FS1 now.

Jasen777 wrote:I agree that TJ is on another level than Mizugaki, but that was after 3 years and Cruz looked as good as he ever had, if not better. So I'm not that worried about another year and a half off for him Ring Rust wise (injuries always a concern).

Yeah, I think ring rust is pretty overrated. Not to say it's meaningless, but fighting is kind of like riding a bike for these guys since they've been doing it in some form since they were young, and to a degree it's in everyone's blood. Just some can flip that switch more reliably than others, and Dom has already proven he can.

REDDzone · Post #17 » by **REDDzone** » Fri Jan 8, 2016 5:19 am

BJJScout on Cruz, part II. Breakdowns start at ~1:25.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNp3NmM9180&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]

Here is part one:
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qPtYaBY1V8[/youtube]

Some of this stuff is just beyond me. Also, third version with Cruz/Dillashaw broken down is on the way!

NZB2323 · Post #18 » by **NZB2323** » Sun Jan 10, 2016 1:36 am

So this card is Sunday night?

GoRapstheoriginal · Post #19 » by **GoRapstheoriginal** » Mon Jan 11, 2016 12:43 am

NZB2323 wrote:So this card is Sunday night?

http://mmajunkie.com/events/ufc-fight-night-81-dillashaw-vs-cruz

Susan · Post #20 » by **Susan** » Tue Jan 12, 2016 4:41 pm

Cruz is my favorite fighter right now. His skill, ability to talk and ability to overcome adversity are all second to none. His life fell apart when he lost his title and he's come back as a better version of himself. He's the alpha male of that division and TJ knows it.