One of the UFC's modern-day greats says he will bow out of the Octagon at UFC Seattle.
Former undisputed UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz has confirmed that his upcoming bout against Rob Font at the UFC Fight Night event on February 22 will be his last.
Cruz appeared on the ESPN show Good Guy/Bad Guy, where host Daniel Cormier asked him outright if his upcoming bout with Font would be his final fight.
"For me, it is," Cruz replied.
"Not because of my mentality, not because of my skill set, because I lost my last fight, but I was in that fight every minute of the fight, and when I got finished, I was going for the kill.
"It wasn't one of those situations where I was bowing out of the fight. I was in the fight, trying to kill the guy, and I hurt myself, and then that led to the finish eventually."
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At the age of 39, Cruz remains confident that he has the skills to mix it with the best bantamweights in the world, but he revealed that his ongoing battle with injuries has taken its toll, with the hard yards spent in fight camp proving to be increasingly difficult for his body to handle.
"The skills are still there. It's just a matter of all the injuries and stuff," he explained.
"Can I keep them together to get through the camp? The camp's the hard part – we all know that. It's not really the fight. If I had to fight in one week I would get there healthy, but my body might not be as ready as it needs to be. But I got a six-week camp to prepare myself (for Font) and I've done a nine-month chunk of time to make sure my body can handle that."
Cruz is widely considered to be one of the greatest MMA bantamweights of all time. He captured the UFC's undisputed 135-pound title twice, and was the last World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) bantamweight champion prior to the organization being absorbed by the UFC in December 2010.
In 2012, Cruz suffered a torn ACL that required surgery, but complications arose when his body rejected the replacement ligament from a cadaver, leaving him on the shelf for several additional months after having to undergo a second surgery.
His return was then further delayed after he tore his groin prior to his planned comeback fight. That prompted Cruz to vacate the UFC bantamweight title to let the division move on while he focused on returning to fighting fitness.
After three years away from the sport, Cruz returned to action in September 2014 and claimed a first-round knockout of Japanese contender Takeya Mizugaki at UFC 178 to earn the number-one contender spot, and the chance to challenge for his old title against then-champion TJ Dillashaw. But, just as things seemed to be improving for Cruz, injury struck again as he suffered another ACL injury, this time to his other knee.
After 16 more months on the sidelines, Cruz returned to the Octagon again in January 2016 and defeated Dillashaw via split decision to complete a remarkable career comeback as he recaptured the title he never lost in the cage. He followed up that win five months later with a unanimous decision victory over his longtime rival Urijah Faber as he defended his title at UFC 199.
More injuries followed as Cruz lost his title to Cody Garbrandt at UFC 207, then suffered a controversial TKO loss to Henry Cejudo in a bantamweight title fight that Cruz still disputes to this day.
Cruz, who is also one of the UFC's main color commentators, has won two of his last three and will make the walk to the Octagon for the final time on February 22 as he looks to finish his 20-year career in style by claiming his 25th career victory.
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