Cruz Ready to Share Spotlight

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When the head honchos at the Ultimate Fighting Championship or the UFC announced that the super match between Chael Sonnen and Anderson Silva has been rescheduled from the 23rd of June at UFC 147 to the 7th of July at UFC 148, many had feared that this would supplant the match between Urijah Faber and his long time rival Dominick Cruz but that has been proved to be untrue as the UFC have announced that this match between Cruz and Faber will be the co-main event at the UFC 148 in Las Vegas.

Many people are still not happy with the decision to add the Middleweight Championship event to the fight card of the UFC 148 when it was being built up as an event for the lower weight categories and was gaining a lot of attention as it was, thanks mainly due to the rivalry generated between Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber and their impending match up.

But now that the match between Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen has been finalized for UFC 148, there is nothing more that can be done than let the spotlight be shared between these two super matches. Although this is the third time that Faber and Cruz are meeting, with a 1-1 record for both of them, the match has generated a lot of following thanks mainly due to the rivalry that the two have been going through in The Ultimate Fighter, where they are acting as mentors to the young fighters.

Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber will meet at the end of the season of The Ultimate Fighter and this is the match that was to be the headlining event at UFC 148, but still, there is enough fanfare about the two coaches getting at each other in the confines of the Octagon.

FOCUS ON CRUZ

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Dominick Cruz from San Diego, California, is often called the dominator due to his relentless attacking strategy and his unpredictable footwork. But in October, 2011, he found a completely new way to live up to his nickname.

He was facing Demetrious Johnson in a UFC live event, and was faced with an opponent faster than himself. Cruz is widely regarded as one of the fastest fighters in the UFC, but the younger opponent proved to be a tad too quick for him. So Cruz had to resort to something he hadn’t done before. As he was a bit larger than Johnson, he used his strength and his size to turn the event into a wrestling match. With his size advantage firmly established, the Californian dominated the rest of the game.

But it wasn’t an easy fight, as Cruz later said. The pace shook him a little at the start and he had to adopt an entirely new style to fight Johnson, who is nicknamed the “Mighty Mouse”. Johnson lived up to his reputation just as much as the “Dominator”. The previous opponents whom Cruz had faced had allowed him to settle into his rhythm of chaos, while they were still trying to figure out and anticipate his moves. Johnson, however, was a totally different sort of adversary. He didn’t stand back even for the slightest amount of time, thus not allowing Dominick to settle down into his usual movements. He kicked at Cruz’s head and often tried to launch unexpected punches. A few even landed at the expected spot, but none had the power to put the bantamweight champion in a difficult situation. But it was this haphazard approach that Cruz took complete advantage of. Johnson’s missed kicks and punches often caught him off balance, and the Dominator didn’t take too long to take him down on one of those occasions.