Controversial Fights I: Dillashaw vs. Cruz
Recently I’ve been re-watching MMA fights as a way to get better at analyzing fights and fighters. As I was doing this I found myself wanting to write out some notes round by round to keep track of who I think won and why. Since I’m awful at writing content for my website I figured this was a natural place for me to document some of my thoughts and keep track of fights that I watch. For now this is an exercise in historical fights, but I may being jotting down notes for fights in real time as well. But right now it makes sense to me to start with some of the more controversial fights in history and see how I score them.
Since TJ DIllashaw vs Henry Cejudo is scheduled for next weekend, and both of these fighters have some controversial split decisions on their records, I think it makes sense to start with them. So for my first post in this series, I will be looking at TJ Dillashaw vs Dominick Cruz.
Pre-Fight Notes
This was the most anticipated fight in Bantamweight history, and for good reason. Dillashaw (12-2) was coming off three consecutive Performance of the Night bonuses for his fights against Renan Barão (x2) and Joe Soto. Barão being on a streak of 32 fights without a loss when TJ beat him for the first time. Cruz (20-1) was undefeated for nearly a decade and had only lost the belt due to inactivity from injury. This fight was only his second in 5 years, but he was still considered the Greatest Bantamweight of all time going into the fight, though there had to be concerns about how multiple knee surgeries could slow down a fighter who is known for his elusive movement.
Round 1
Both fighters show their ability to avoid taking shots in this round. Dillashaw maintained control of the centre of the ring more, but almost all of his punches were hitting air. He landed a few kicks, but most of those were caught by Cruz and TJ landed up on the mat a couple of times because of it. Cruz didn’t land much more than TJ in the round, but it seemed like he was connecting on more of his attempts and hit Dillashaw with a couple of hooks that were the most damaging punches of the round. Overall a close round that I could see being scored either way, but I give it to Cruz.
Round: Cruz
Score: Cruz 10-9
Round 2
The octagon control in this round was more even. TJ moved forward in the beginning of the round, but Cruz was moving forward more towards the middle of the round. Cruz continues to be a matador when TJ throws at him. Dillashaw is throwing combos, but Cruz is nowhere to be found. And TJ’s kicks aren’t being set up so Cruz didn’t have much trouble evading them. Again though, Cruz didn’t manage to do much other than be elusive. He had a chain of two nice takedowns at the end of the round that should give him some points, but he wasn’t able to keep TJ down for long and didn’t land any damage from them.
Round: Cruz
Score: Cruz 20-18
Round 3
This was the closet round of the fight so far for me. I think TJ landed the most powerful shots of the round with a good head kick and a few leg kicks. But again Cruz was counter striking for the entire round and Dillashaw was eating at least a punch or two every time he started swinging at Cruz. Cruz had a takedown in the round but managed to do nothing with it before Dillawshaw briefly reversed it and Dom stood up. TJ keeps winding up for big power shots instead of throwing feints to get Cruz to bite. This was also the first that TJ went to the surgically repaired legs of Cruz and I would have expected him to started doing that from the onset of the fight.
Round: Cruz
Score: Cruz 30-27
Round 4
The fight started to change in this round. Cruz looked much slower and TJ hit him with a few good right hands in the first minute and a half of the round. After that TJ started working on the lead leg of Cruz and Cruz was visibly limping. Cruz had his mouth open and breathing heavy all the way through the round and was switching stances so as to not get hit with a leg kick on his left leg. Cruz was still having success on making TJ miss in this round, but when the fight got in the pocket there were a few times where Cruz was backed up against the cage and couldn’t circle out as cleanly as he was in the early rounds. The last two minutes of the round were dominated by TJ landing a takedown and then having Cruz clinched up against the fence for a period.
Round: Dillashaw
Score: Cruz 39-37
Round 5
The damage to Cruz’s lead left leg is evident in this round. He switched to southpaw for a good portion of the round and his movement was a fraction of what it was to start the fight. In the final two minutes of the round the roles were almost reversed from the beginning of the fight. Dillashaw landed a big head kick in the round and Dom started to fight with more aggression to end the round (possibly feeling he was behind?). In these exchanges it was Cruz who was swinging for the fences and missing, while TJ was methodically moving forward and landing combos on Cruz when inside of the pocket.
Round: Dillashaw
Score: Cruz 48-47
Conclusion
Cruz won this fight via a split decision, which is in line with my scoring of the fight. The first three rounds were all remarkably close, but I had a slight edge to Cruz in all three. The final two rounds were much easier to score and those went to Dillashaw. If I look at the bout in it’s entirety, I would score it for Dillashaw. He only lost the first three rounds by a hair and convincingly won the final two rounds in my eyes. He landed the hardest shots in the fight and Cruz’s leg was badly hurt by the end of the fight. However, on a 10 point scoring system, Cruz was so elusive and adept at countering in the first three rounds that Dillashaw needed a finish and he was unable to get one to seal the fight. While there wasn’t a lot of damage landed on either side in the fight, it was a great tactical fight where both fighters were incredibly hard to hit and showed why they are considered the best Bantamweights of all time. Since this fight Dillashaw has gone on to regain his belt after Cruz lost it to Cody Garbrandt. Cruz has since been re-injured and it seems like we may have perhaps seen the end of his career. Which is a shame because this fight was scored as a split decision and with how close it was I would love to have seen a rematch between the two best that the division has to offer.