Dominick Cruz Confirms UFC Seattle Will Be His Retirement Fight: ‘The Body Just Isn’t The Same Anymore’

Dominick Cruz is back for one last hurray.

The former two-time UFC bantamweight champion and all-time great has not fought since a third-round knockout loss in August 2022 to Marlon “Chito” Vera. Cruz, 39, is ready to wipe the stain of defeat in pursuit of his 25th MMA victory when he returns to UFC Seattle against Rob Font on February 18.

Cruz’s days in the Octagon were speculated to be over during this latest hiatus as he focused on his career as a UFC color commentator rather than his work inside the cage. But Cruz confirmed Monday on Uncrowned’s “The Ariel Helwani Show” that his showdown against the No. 9-ranked bantamweight contender Font will indeed be his retirement fight.

“The body just isn’t the same anymore,” Cruz said. “When you have to start training differently because the body doesn’t do what you need it to do, you give supplements, don’t you? You take something away here and there. So I don’t want that. the thing.

“I think if I just keep going, I might end up in a room where I can’t lift my arm. I don’t know if anybody’s seen (former UFC bantamweight champion) TJ Dillashaw recently — he can’t even Lift his arm that high I’ve had multiple shoulder surgeries These are the things I’ve been building up this time – to rebuild the body to come back and make sure I can do a camp in one piece. It always is the hard part because i train extremely hard.

“I think that was the problem with Cain Velasquez,” he continued. “I personally think that was the problem with Khabib (Nurmagomedov). A lot of the best athletes in the world, the reason we get injured is because we train harder than anybody else. I think the two people I named, were some of the hardest-training athletes in the history of the sport, period, ever, I think that’s why they had a lot of injuries.

“I think that’s also why I’ve had a lot of injuries. It’s just the interpretation, it’s not a fact. But from my experience, when I see champions really train – Alexander Gustafsson also comes to mind – some of the hardest training athletes on Earth, and a lot of times we’re the ones with the most injuries. The way they add up, I don’t want that to be a reason why I don’t look as good as I could on fight night.”

The story of Cruz’s career cannot be told without his relentless fight against injury.

Cruz most notably saw his first UFC title reign halted between 2012 and 2014 due to a pair of ACL tears followed by a groin tear. His magical return in late 2014 resulted in a 61-second pinning of Takeya Mizugaki in a non-title match before suffering a third ACL tear.

Shoulder problems have hampered Cruz in the later stages of his career, and despite believing he could compete for longer in MMA, he is concerned about the quality of life he hopes to have going forward.

“I just knew I could probably do three or four more (fights), but I don’t know how my shoulder was going to be after that,” Cruz said. “But if I do this, I still have an arm — I can still throw a baseball, I can still live life. I can snowboard if I want to, I can climb a ladder. Basically. I want to be able to have my life and my body when this is said and done and not just be in ruins with no arms, no legs, no back, no neck, I don’t want to be like that.

Font provides a new contender for Cruz’s swan song. Although the 37-year-old Font made his professional MMA debut at the height of Cruz’s first UFC title reign in 2011, he has racked up a broader career of fights (29) and maintained a spot in the UFC’s top 10 for the better part of last decade.

Cruz respects his upcoming opponent and is excited for the challenge, but Font was not his first choice.

Among the four losses in his 28-fight MMA career, Cruz has avenged one, defeating Urijah Faber twice in subsequent outings. Few were clamoring for a Vera rematch, but Henry Cejudo and Cody Garbrandt were prime candidates for Cruz to ride off into the sunset with a shot at redemption.

In the end, Cruz’s top target, Cejudo, instead headlines UFC Seattle in a fight against Song Yadong.

“I would have rather had a rematch, to be honest, with someone that I have history and a history with like Henry,” Cruz said. “I think it was a really good fight to have. But on one end you had (UFC matchmaker) Sean Shelby say, ‘Henry won’t take it.’ And then when you talk to (Cejudo’s manager ) Ali (Abdelaziz), you made Ali say, ‘Oh, Shelby wouldn’t make it.’

“So you start hearing two sides of the story from both guys and you never hear from the fighter himself. After a while you just have to take the opportunities that are given.

“That’s what the UFC offered me, so I took it,” he continued. “I mean, the UFC isn’t going to try to give me some kind of ‘because they like me’ fight or anything. I don’t think that exists for very many people. Unless you’re Conor McGregor, Ronda Rousey, Jon Jones, where you bring a certain amount of eyes, then I think they’ll work with you, but other than that, you’re kind of thrown to the wolves in the UFC.

Cruz is no stranger to a five-round war, having competed in 11 bouts scheduled as title tilts or main events. For his retirement fight, however, he will only have three rounds to play with.

What could be interpreted as a slap in the face to the legend is actually more of a courtesy. Logistically, Cruz has no problem co-main eventing, all factors considered.

“I’m not fighting for a title, so I’m not getting paid more for that kind of work and the extra two rounds,” Cruz said of UFC Seattle. “You get $25,000 more (to headline). If you think about it, I get a certain amount of money for three rounds, and then they’ll add 10 minutes, which is more than half the fight extra, and they’ll basically and reason only give me 10,000 dollars for it.

“If I’m in a main event, if I’m going to run the whole card and promote it and be the man and do all this stuff, then hopefully I can get paid more for it – but I don’t want to . So I’ll take that co-main event slot second than $25,000 more to be a main event. So if you get $25,000 more for 10 more minutes of a match – and to me $25,000 is not worth a 10-minute fight round for $25,000,’ I’d say ‘No, I’m good.’

“It just didn’t work out that way for me. I’ve just been in sports too long. I know how it works. I get paid for the time and energy I put into camp and a five-round camp versus a three-round camp is like a 40-hour work week versus an 80-hour work week They are two completely different things on the body.

Regardless of physical wear and tear, Cruz has remained competitive to overcome any odds stacked against him. Whether in training or in his performances, Cruz has always had a commendable fighting IQ.

So if he looks excellent in a potential win against Font, would he keep fighting after that?

It would be hard not to consider, Cruz admitted, but he maintained that he will continue with a smart approach rather than making reactive decisions. He just knows the end is in sight.

“Consider that you’re on the run,” Cruz said. “Do you ever get to the end of the race and think, ‘OK, let’s pick it up, we’re almost done. There’s light at the end of the tunnel. Sprint.’ And then you get to the end and you have nothing left because you sprinted?

“That’s what I’m looking at. Sprint it out, sprint it out. Drive hard, don’t stop there. This isn’t ‘light up ’cause you’re at the end.’ It’s ‘pick it up because you’re at the end’.”