Daron Cruickshank finally gets to realize dream of soccer kicking someone in the face

If you walk into Daron Cruickshank’s house, you’ll find a list of goals the veteran lightweight keeps.

With his next fighting venture, a three-fight contract with the upstart Japanese promotion Rizin MMA, he could get the pleasure of checking off one: to knock someone out with a soccer kick.

The 30-year-old former UFC fighter remembers well the days of PRIDE, where such strikes were legal and cool.

“I always thought that was something I really wanted to accomplish, so it works out that I’m going to a company that allows that,” Cruickshank (16-8), who faces Shinji Sasaki (16-8) at “Top Presents RIZIN Fighting Federation I,” told MMAjunkie.

Cruickshank’s departure from the industry-leading UFC after 13 appearances didn’t come with the kind of acrimony that’s marked others who’ve departed. He isn’t the latest in a long line to blast the Reebok deal.

“The Reebok deal wasn’t too bad for me, because I haven’t made a ton of money in sponsorship,” he said. “The only guys that are making a ton of money in sponsorship are the top-10 guys, and I didn’t break that bracket – but I had a lot of fights.”

Still, it didn’t take long for him to understand where he stood following a third consecutive octagon loss, which came in January via submission to Paul Felder at UFC Fight Night 81.

“There wasn’t any crazy argument or anything like that,” Cruickshank said. “That week (I was released), I hit them up and asked when I could fight again, and they were like, ‘Look, we can’t give you another 155-pound fight. We don’t have to cut you, but the only way you’re going to get back in there is either a good amount of time goes by, or it’s a very short notice fight and we need you.”

Neither of those options worked well for Cruickshank, who’s been a professional fighter for seven years. So he agreed to a release with the caveat that he could be brought back with a series of good performances.

Cruickshank put the word out that he was looking for work, and soon found himself negotiating with Rizin, whose third event takes place at Nippon Gaishi Hall in Nagoya, Japan.

“We talked to a few different companies, and being that I am on a three-fight losing streak, a lot of companies weren’t offering me the right amount of money,” he said. “I had built up a name, and I think my value is a lot more than what these other companies were trying to give me. But Rizin came with a decent number. I get back on the winning streak, and be exciting, and the opportunities will come.”

The deal he signed also allows him to fight in other promotions, so there are more opportunities to rebuild himself. A striker by trade, he welcomes the idea of a kickboxing fight to stay active. He also likes the idea of fighting in a cage as opposed to a ring, which the Japanese promotion offers.

There’s also the possibility of moving down a weight class to featherweight, an idea he flirted with while still fighting in the UFC.

But for now, he’s concentrating on his debut, which comes against a fighter he knew nothing about when Sasaki was first proposed. He’ll have 10 minutes to work in the first round, rather than the five minutes allotted for fights under the unified rules.

So while he could be in for a longer initial fight, there are other advantages he sees.

“(Sasaki) doesn’t have a good takedown game, and his striking is very one-dimensional, and, we’re in a ring,” Cruickshank said. “There’s no cage to trap me on and hold me down on the ground. So I feel that there will definitely be a knockout. I’ll be knocking him out in the first round.”

Admitting he was “spoiled” by the turnkey operation of the UFC, Cruickshank guesses that with former PRIDE boss Nobuyuki Sakikibara heading the show, things will run smoothly backstage. But he’ll know more when he actually gets there. A new chapter in his career awaits.

“Hopefully I don’t get to Japan and I have to figure out how to get to the hotel by myself,” he said.