The UFC has officially announced Bantamweight Champion TJ Dillashaw‘s next title defense will be against Dominick Cruz on a UFC Fight Night scheduled for January. The match is one that the UFC can claim as a “superfight”, as Cruz (20-1) is a former champion who was stripped of the belt due to injuries but never actually lost it in the octagon. In Dillashaw’s last outing, he dispatched Renan Barao early in the fourth round to establish himself as the top dog in the division now. Barao held the title in dominant fashion after Cruz, and in beating Barao twice, Dillashaw (12-2) has put away the spectre of the former champion. And Cruz is expected to be his toughest challenge to date.
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The match will not be without risk, and it is fair to say a sport book or two might put up a prop line for Cruz getting injured again. Cruz is one of the most talented fighters in the world when he is healthy, unfortunately the rash of injuries he has sustained leave it an open question as to whether he will ever be healthy again. In his last title defense in October, 2011 he defeated future flyweight kingpin Demetrious Johnson, but then proceeded to miss the next three years as he battled multiple knee injuries and surgeries.
Several times, his comeback was aborted as more trouble surfaced with his knee, and some questioned whether he would ever fight again. Cruz returned in September of 2014 when he wiped out Japan’s Takeya Mizugaki in one minute, but it was hard to tell much about his condition in that fight because it was over so fast. Though the win was nice and he showed flashes of being “The Dominator” fans of Cruz would be left wanting more, as he goes into this title match not having fought since.
By the time the fight goes down, Cruz will have been on the shelf 16 more months, so it is a fair question to ask: What is the UFC’s back up plan if Cruz gets hurt again?
