UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz is familiar with accolades. He’s a former WEC champion, a two-time UFC titleholder, the top-ranked fighter in his division, and can be found near the top of pound-for-pound lists. What Cruz wants now, though, is big fights and the significant paydays that go along with them.
Cruz (22-1 MMA, 5-0 UFC) doesn’t expect those fights to be made out of thin air, however. He’s willing to do what’s necessary to track them down, and if that means moving up to the featherweight division to challenge the winner of the future title-unification bout between champ Conor McGregor (19-3 MMA, 7-1 UFC) and interim titleholder Jose Aldo (26-2 MMA, 8-1 UFC), then that’s exactly what “The Dominator” wants to do.
“I want a big fight and try to bring the belts together at 145,” Cruz told MMAjunkie Radio. “Conor and Aldo are getting ready to fight after Conor fights Nate (Diaz at UFC 202). We’ll see how that fight goes. That’s hard for both those guys, Nate and Conor. That’s a crazy fight. I’m excited to see that one.
“The winner of that could possibly face Aldo (soon) if Conor stays healthy, and I could wait on that, bring two belts together, and I think tons of fans would be interested in seeing that – me fighting Aldo or McGregor, depending on who wins that one.”
Cruz, 30, has been a pro fighter for more than 11 years. During that time, he’s experienced the highs of being a world champion, but also the lows of dealing with career-threatening injuries, having his title stripped due to inactivity and missing out on participating on several money-making fight cards.
With the bantamweight belt in his possession, though, and no standout No. 1 contender in his division, Cruz is looking up a weight class for a challenge and the chance to make history. No fighter in UFC history has held two belts simultaneously, but if the UFC is willing to oblige his request for a fight with McGregor or Aldo, Cruz is confident he can be the first.
“These are just fights I feel can fill up seats, that people want to see the 135-pound division compete against either Aldo, McGregor or somebody else new in the 135-pound division,” Cruz said. “That’s something that’s never been done. It’s been tried. Conor’s tried it. He’s got the 145-pound belt, and he was going to go do it in another division, but that kind of got (scrapped) with the Nate thing, and now that’s going on. I’d like to do it. I’d love to do that and be the first.”
Cruz, No. 3 pound-for-pound and No. 1 at bantamweight in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA rankings, is even willing to make the bold prediction he can juggle both divisions.
“It would be a new set of stipulations, wouldn’t it – to have both belts?” Cruz said. “I don’t know what would happen. I’d have to talk (with the UFC). The biggest thing is to get the shot to try it. UFC has given certain shots to certain people to try that idea. What better a guy to try to give a shot to than me – a guy who has been out and had to come back? I’ve given my licks to the sport. I’ve put my body into it. I’ve put the time into it. Let me try something crazy that no one has done before if you’re not going to let me clean out this division with guys I’ve already beat. I’ve already beat the top two guys in the division besides myself.
“I’m in this for the money. I’ve had the belt. I’ve had the rankings. I’ve had all that stuff, and I realized what it really means it is puts little asterisk next to your name and says, ‘Oh yeah, he’s really good.’ It doesn’t get you paid. The only way to get you paid is to get the fight these fans want to see. I haven’t heard very much about rematches, but I’ve heard a lot about (Cody) Garbrandt, (John) Lineker, Aldo, McGregor. Those are the fights fans are interested in seeing.”
The noticeable issue in Cruz’s plan is the uncertainty surrounding the UFC featherweight title. McGregor, who is set to rematch Diaz in a welterweight bout at UFC 202 later this month, might never return to the division to defend the belt. Interim champ Aldo has said he’s got assurances from UFC officials his next fight will be against “The Notorious,” but that remains to be seen.
Assuming it does happen, though, there’s always chance of a trilogy fight if Aldo emerges victorious in the rematch of his 13-second knockout loss to McGregor at UFC 194 in December.
Additionally, contenders such as Max Holloway, who has won nine straight, wait in the wings for a title shot after beating numerous ranked opponents in his weight class. Cruz said he deserves to jump the line, though, and said a matchup against either McGregor or Aldo would be one that fans want to see.
“If (McGregor) beats Nate and says he’s never coming down, then I’ll fight Aldo for the belt,” Cruz said. “I mentioned Aldo before I mentioned McGregor. Why? Because everyone is calling out McGregor, and I know how that feels. I said I’m not going to call out McGregor; I’m going to call out the guy that’s right there next to him, and that’s Aldo. And that’s no easy fight. That’s a tough fight.
“Aldo looked better than he’s ever looked than he has in any of his past fights (at UFC 200 against Frankie Edgar), and that’s a real challenge for me. That’s not just me throwing a name out there. I know what that is.
“I know what moving up to 145 means for me and the kind of challenge that is. That’s very, very difficult to do, to move up a weight class and face the best dude in that weight class. That’s Aldo and Conor. Both those guys have proven to be those guys. Either one of them is a challenge that would prove I earned that belt at 145 if I got the opportunity.”
