Former UFC bantamweight Champion Dominick Cruz went on the ‘Anik & Florian Podcast’ and reflected on his illustrious career. He shared many stories, but the one that caught the attention of the MMA community was a story surrounding him and former UFC featherweight and lightweight champion Conor McGregor.
At the time, McGregor only had three fights in the UFC, consisting of wins over Marcus Brimmage, Max Holloway, and Diego Brandao. However, something he told Cruz would stick with the California native for a long time.
A Young Conor McGregor Speaks to Dominick Cruz
Dominick Cruz had just beaten Takeya Mizugaki by knockout, and he tells the story as such to Anik and Florian:
“I’ll take you back to one story in particular that I haven’t talked about that I was thinking about the other day. I had just beat Takeya Mizugaki in a minute after a long lay off that everybody said I was doing something that nobody could ever do, ring rust exits blah blah blah all this stuff,” he said.
“I get done and I win and I come up to the top and I’m sitting next to Conor and he’s got his pearl white suit and his hair up with a viking look going on at the time. He shakes my hand and he goes ‘very nice fight, you’re a legend, OG in the sport’ like whatever, like very kind.”
What McGregor tells Cruz next is almost beyond belief, as he had only just broken into the UFC rankings at the time of this conversation. Per Cruz, this is what McGregor told him: “He goes ‘man, you should go up there and grab those belts, just stand up with them right on your shoulders and just tell everybody that you’re here and that you’re the champion’.”
Taking a Different Path
Obviously, Cruz did not follow up on that advice, and chose to remain humble. It would have made for a pivotal moment in MMA history had he made the decision to grab those belts.
Dominick Cruz was a little skeptical: “I remember looking at him and thinking well he’s really good, he’s gonna rise right up and this is what up and comers look like but I’m just going to keep quiet. I’m gonna sit here and I’m gonna do my job and I’m gonna be respectable and humble because I don’t know what comes next, I just don’t know what comes next and that’s not marketing.”
According to MMANews, Cruz explained that he did not believe in making himself the center of attention and wanted his body of work to do the talking for him. That worked well for Cruz in the past, as he won the title against TJ Dillashaw in the fight after Mizaguki, and defended it once more
“[Fight] Marketing is do it, apologize later if you need to, maybe. I just went the respectful route and those are moments in time I look back at and think that’s the difference in marketing versus not. It’s do you get up there and while I believed in myself, I also just had a different direction in mind whereas Conor would’ve gone up there, grabbed the belt and threw them over his shoulder,” Cruz said.
Dominick Cruz has not announced any plans to return to the UFC Octagon. He was last defeated by Chito Vera by way of head kick.
Do you want to see “the Dominator” return to the Octagon? Let us know!
Featured Image Credits to Embed from Getty Images
