LAS VEGAS - Book it now. Five more rounds might be on the way between Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber. Cruz and Faber traded punches, knees, kicks, takedowns and awesome scrambles and produced a very tough tilt to score. After 25 minutes of action, the judges gave a unanimous decision, 50-45, 49-46 and 48-47 to Cruz, the UFC bantamweight champion, in the main event of UFC 132 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
This was a revenge fight for the champion Cruz (18-1, 1-0 UFC). As a neophite, he lost in 2007 to Faber at WEC 26. Faber went onto a high level of stardom as the sport's best lighter weight fighter while Cruz worked in the background to improve his game and add incredible movement to his arsenal. The 5-foot-9 San Diegan also dropped down a weight class to 135 pounds. In the final days of the WEC, Cruz got on a hot streak and won the bantamweight title. When the UFC folded the 145 and 135 pound weight classes into the bigger promotion, Cruz was handed the title, but there was still unfinished business to legitimize the title. He had to beat Faber.
"I really hyped myself up for this fight. I wanted this fight for four years. I've been hungry for this fight, sweating for this fight, bleeding for this fight," Cruz said during the postfight press conference. "I got it. I won it. I'm happy."
The judges were slightly split on the fight with Sal D'Amato scoring it 5-0 for Cruz while Glenn Trowbridge had it 3-2.
"At the end of the fight, I said 'I'm glad I don't have to score that fight.' It was a very good fight back and forth and we'll see what happens," White responded when asked about a third fight some time down the road. "Third fights are always fun especially when they're as good as that one was. It was a great fight, very technical fight. It was MMA at its finest."
Faber (25-5, 1-1 UFC) and his corner looked devastated and sort of shocked by the decision. After getting blasted by Faber shots, Cruz hit the deck on three occasions, but his ability to bounce up quickly, may have nullified the flash knockdowns.
"You never really know how a fight is going to go until you get in there. I thought I landed the heavier punches. It just wasn't enough output on my side. I didn't finish him. I felt like it could've gone either way. I felt like I won the fight," said a gracious Faber.
Cruz admitted that he'd been blasted a few times by Faber.
"That dude hits hard. His hand are very fast," Cruz said. "They were prepared. His hands were good."
According to Compustrike, Cruz outlanded Faber 99-74, but the champ was knocked down three times. He scored with the judges by converting on 6-of-11 takedowns. Although it should be pointed that not once did Cruz ever really settle Faber down on the ground.
"We're both reaction fighters and was trying not to react too much to his movement, just kind of stalk him and take his best shot and land the heavier shots. I know I landed some heavy shots in there and I know i rocked him a couple of times. Apparently it wasn't enough," Faber said during the postfight press conference. "The main thing must've have been the amount of punches. That's the only thing I can think of."
Faber called Cruz cocky in the past, gave the young champ his due.
"Congrats to Dominick. I'm not an easy guy to beat. Joseph Benavidez is not an easy guy to beat," Faber said. "So we've got a good champ."
Other popular stories on Yahoo! Sports:
? Ortiz, Silva pass torch to next generation
? Junior Nation not happy with Jimmie Johnson
? CP3's wedding guest list to be scrutinized
? Y! Sports exclusive: Oregon recruiting scandal
Joe Doerksen Chris Dolman Edson Drago Tomasz Drwal Joe Hybrid Duarte
No comments:
Post a Comment