Champ Dominick Cruz ready to 'gift' Urijah Faber title shot: 'I'm all he's got left'

Newly crowned UFC bantamweight champ Dominick Cruz said he’s ready to put his rivalry with Urijah Faber to bed nearly a decade after it first began.

Cruz (21-1 MMA, 4-0 UFC), who captured the belt from T.J. Dillashaw (12-3 MMA, 8-3 UFC) by split decision in January at UFC Fight Night 81, is currently rehabbing a foot injury he brought into the bout and worsened after five rounds of high-paced action. He said he’s “aggressively” working to recover, and once that happens, his sights are set on Faber (33-8 MMA, 9-4 UFC).

Although Cruz, No. 1 in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA bantamweight rankings, said he doesn’t necessarily view No. 5-ranked Faber as the most deserving or threatening challenger, his history with “The California Kid” draws his intrigue. Faber handed Cruz his only career loss, under the now-defunct WEC banner in March 2007. “The Dominator” later avenged the loss during a rematch at UFC 132 in July 2011.

The rivals were booked for a trilogy bout at UFC 148 in July 2012, but Cruz was forced out of the contest with the first in what was a long line of injuries that forced him vacate the UFC belt and sit on the sidelines recovering for the better part of four years.

Cruz regained his throne from Dillashaw and said the trilogy with Faber now makes sense. Although Faber has a 0-4 record in UFC title fights and is just 2-2 in his past four UFC fights, Cruz said he’d be willing to “gift” one last title shot to his rival if it means the opportunity to beat up Faber one more time.

“I like that Faber matchup because we were supposed to fight but it got put off because of my knee injury, so I feel like that could happen,” Cruz told MMAjunkie. “It’s been 10 years of building with this guy, and I just kind of want to shut him down and keep him out of the division after this. He really isn’t the most relevant guy in the world, but he still does a pretty good fight. He brings some things to the table. He’s still got a championship mindset.

“I think this is just another gift for Faber. He’s been gifted his whole career with title shots, but oh well. Screw it. I’m all he’s got left, so I might as well give him one more.”

Before Cruz turns his focus fully to Faber, he said he must first do some thing outside the octagon. His main priority is to regain his health. He said he brought plantar fascia tendonitis into the fight with Dillashaw. He said he wasn’t cleared to wear ankle wraps, which only worsened the injury.

Urijah Faber

“I wasn’t really banged up (after the fight), just my foot hurt,” Cruz said. “Of course it’s going to hurt worse at the end of the fight, especially because where we fought they didn’t let us tape stuff. If you go across the world in any sport anywhere, you can tape your ankles or your hands or your knees. Well in a fistfight, apparently you’re not allowed to, so it’s super silly. That really hurt my foot very badly because I was taping it the entire camp, so I was used to having that support. If you take away that support and have to fight at a thousand miles an hour, my foot gets hurt a little bit.

“I’m attacking it very aggressively in rehab, doing the things I need to do to get rid of the inflammation, and my body’s feeling strong. My knees are feeling strong. It’s just a matter of upkeep, staying strong, getting faster and rebuilding the body to get to top form because my last camp I came in off ACL injury and I had to skip a lot of portions of building my body because I had to focus on technique for the fight itself. … Now I can build all those things back up around all this time and have a full body going into this next fight.”

Second on Cruz’s list of priorities is to sit down with UFC officials to discuss where he stands in the organization. He made it clear following his victory over Dillashaw that he feels his pay should be readjusted based on his increased value and stature in the sport.

Cruz’s disclosed purse for UFC Fight Night 81 totaled $110,000. Comparatively, UFC flyweight Joseph Benavidez, whom Cruz has twice defeated in his career, was paid $118,000 in disclosed earnings for his unanimous decision victory over Zach Makovsky this past weekend at UFC Fight Night 82.

Cruz said he understands he’s not the type of UFC attraction for the UFC that the likes of Conor McGregor and Ronda Rousey are, so he doesn’t expect to be compensated on the same level. However, he said his accolades of UFC champion and “Analyst of the Year” for FOX Sports should prove he brings something unique to the table.

The 30-year-old said he plans to express those thoughts to UFC President Dana White and CEO Lorenzo Fertitta when they sit down to discuss his next matchup.

“I just want to sit down and talk to those guys and see where they’re at with me,” Cruz said. “They do run the company, and I’m sure they have some reason for doing what they do in every situation. So I would like to sit down and pick their brain and see what they’re thinking about me. I know what I’m capable of, I know what I’m worthy of, I know the level I compete at, and I know what kind of a professional I am, so I just want to see what they think about it. From there I’m not asking for anything that I don’t deserve. I’m realistic with myself.

“I know I’m not bringing in the amount of butts in the seats as Conor McGregor or Ronda Rousey, and I’m not asking for probably what they’re getting because they bring the butts to the seats. What I’m asking for is what I’m worthy of, and I want to see what they’re thinking because I know what I’m capable of doing not just in this division, but think about what I’ve done in the UFC for the past three years out. It’s not like I’ve just been sitting on my hands doing nothing. I’ve been promoting the division, I’ve been promoting the UFC, I’ve been promoting the sport, and I’ve been teaching people about the sport. Shoot, I taught T.J. Dillashaw his entire style, from the desk.

“I was out four years. That wasn’t even the best me (against Dillashaw). I can get better than that, and now that I’m healthy, I can prove that. If I can do that then, that only hurts me. I still made it happen, so that should have some say of what I’m capable of doing and what I’m worth. The bosses always have a different mindset, and you’ve got to hear what they have to say.”

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