Dominick Cruz has regained the UFC Bantamweight title that he had to vacate due to recurring injuries.
This time Cruz had to withstand a strong challenge from TJ Dillashow, and earned a split decision win, after an enthralling fight in Boston that lasted complete five rounds.
It was back in 2010, when Cruz first won the title against Scott Jorgensen with the WEC. After successfully defending his title few times, before losing it due to recurring injuries.
This time however, The Dominator, as they call him, was not going to let anyone take away his glory.
Cruz said: “Honestly, nobody is going to retire me except for me, I’ve been through too much. The only thing that was surprising is I had to show something to myself. That’s what this was.”
The new bantamweight champion revealed after the fight that he was carrying a foot injury in this fight as well but didn’t say much after that.
Out of three judges one judge awarded the fight to Dillashaw (49-46) while the rest opted Cruz as a clear winner with scores of (48-47, 49-46).
Dillashaw was clearly disappointed with that outcome as he thought he had done enough to win the fight.
HERE ARE All THE UFC FIGHT NIGHT 81 RESULTS:
- Dominick Cruz bt TJ Dillashaw via SD
- Eddie Alvarez bt Anthony Petis via SD
- Travis Browne bt Matt Mitrione via TKO
- Francisco Trinaldo bt Ross Pearson via UD
- Patrick Cote bt Ben Saunders via TKO
- Ed Herman bt Tim Boetsch via TKO
- Chris Wade bt Mehdi Baghdad via sub
- Luke Sanders bt Maximo Blanco via sub
- Paul Felder bt Daron Cruickshank via sub
- Ilir Latifi bt Sean O’Connell via TKO
- Charles Rosa bt Kyle Bochniak via UD
- Rob Font bt Joey Gomez via TKO
- Francimar Barroso bt Elvis Mutapcic via UD
