UFC 132 Fight Card: Dominick Cruz Does Not Live In Urijah Faber's Shadow Anymore

UFC 132 Will Be Dominick Cruz's Moment To Show the World He is a Superior Fighter to Urijah Faber

Dominick Cruz has a nearly flawless record in his mixed martial arts career. He has a 17-1 record, with the only loss being a first-round submission to Urijah Faber, the man that will challenge him for the bantamweight championship at UFC 132.

However, if you are thinking about using that fight as a barometer for this fight, you better think again.

That first fight took place at WEC 26 in March 2007. At that time Faber was one of the best fighters in the world and in the midst of a 13-fight win streak. Cruz, meanwhile, was still finding his niche as a fighter. He had won his first nine fights, but this was a clear step up in competition and it showed in his performance.

Fast forward four years and the tables have turned. Cruz is the star of the bantamweight division, riding a nine-fight win streak since that loss. Faber is still a dangerous fighter, but he is not one of the 10 best fighters in the world.

Cruz is the superior fighter to Faber this time around. His reckless style, unmatched speed and precise striking have made him one of the absolute best fighters in the world. He doesn’t always win in spectacular fashion, but he always seems to be the one who gets his hand raised in victory.

Faber is not as fast as he used to be and his submission game doesn’t appear to be as crisp as it once did. He is still a good wrestler, but he will have to break through Cruz’s offensive attack if he hopes to get the fight to the ground.

There is a lot of personal animosity between these two men dating back to their days in WEC. It seems to stem from the fact that even though Cruz became the superior fighter and won the bantamweight championship in March 2010, Faber was still the guy that the company was built around.

Faber was the guy in advertisements. He was the guy that WEC chose to headline the first and only pay-per-view in company history against Jose Aldo in April 2010. He was the star of that promotion, and Cruz was just a guy that won a lot of fights.

But Cruz is no longer living in the shadow of Faber. He is headlining a UFC pay-per-view as the first ever bantamweight champion in the history of the promotion. He is the best bantamweight fighter in the world and he will prove it on July 2.