Dominick Cruz
(Dominick Cruz (above) after retaining his WEC Bantamweight Championship at WEC 50)
Born	Dominick Cruz (1985-09-03) September 3, 1985 (age 26) Tucson, Arizona, United States
Other names	The Dominator
Residence	Chula Vista, California[1]
Height	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Weight	135 lb (61 kg; 9.6 st)
Division	Bantamweight (2008–present) Featherweight (2006–2008) Lightweight (2005–2006)
Reach	68.0 in (173 cm)
Style	Wrestling, Boxing, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Stance	Orthodox
Fighting out of	Chula Vista, California[2]
Team	Alliance MMA Team Lloyd Irvin
Rank	Blue belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Years active	2005–present
Mixed martial arts record
Total	20
Wins	19
By knockout	6
By submission	1
By decision	12
Losses	1
By submission	1
Other information
Website	http://www.dominickcruz.com
Mixed martial arts record from Sherdog
last updated on: October 11, 2011

Dominick Rojelio Cruz^[3] (born September 3, 1985) is an Mexican American mixed martial artist who competes as a bantamweight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship and is the current UFC Bantamweight Champion. As of November 2011, Cruz is ranked the #1 bantamweight and #8 pound-for-pound fighter in the world by Sherdog.^[4]

Mixed martial arts career[link]

Cruz began his professional MMA career fighting in the Rage in a Cage and Total Combat organizations.

World Extreme Cagefighting[link]

His first fight in the WEC was at featherweight in a title fight against Urijah Faber in which he lost by guillotine choke in the first round. He would then make his debut for WEC's 135 lb Bantamweight division at WEC 34 defeating Charlie Valencia by unanimous decision and would go on to show domination of the 135 lb Bantamweight division beating the likes of Ian McCall, Ivan Lopez and handing top contender Joseph Benavidez his first loss at WEC 42 winning all bouts by unanimous decision and winning fight of the night honors in his bout versus Benavidez.

Cruz defeated Brian Bowles via TKO (doctor stoppage) on March, 6, 2010 at WEC 47. Bowles was unable to continue after the second round after breaking his hand. Cruz became the new WEC Bantamweight Champion.^[5]

Cruz made his first title defense against Joseph Benavidez on August 18, 2010 at WEC 50.^[6] The bout was a rematch of their contest at WEC 42, in which Cruz handed Benavidez his first career loss, via decision. Cruz defeated Benavidez again via split decision. It was announced on the same night that Scott Jorgensen would be next in line for a title shot against Cruz.

Cruz faced Jorgensen on on December 16, 2010 at WEC 53 for both the WEC Bantamweight Championship and the newly created UFC Bantamweight Championship.^[7] This bout would be the final Bantamweight Championship fight under the WEC banner and would also crown the inaugural UFC Bantamweight champion, making this the only UFC title fight to take place outside of the UFC. ^[8] Cruz defeated Jorgensen via unanimous decision (50–45, 50–45, 50–45), to retain the WEC Bantamweight Championship and win the UFC Bantamweight Championship.^[9]

Ultimate Fighting Championship[link]

On October 28, 2010, World Extreme Cagefighting merged with the Ultimate Fighting Championship. As part of the merger, all WEC fighters were transferred to the UFC.^[10]

A rematch with Urijah Faber took place on July 2, 2011 at UFC 132 being the first defense of the new UFC Bantamweight title.^[11] In a closely contested fight which saw Faber drop Cruz multiple times with strikes and Cruz landing multiple leg\body kicks, knees and takedowns, Cruz defeated Faber via unanimous decision to retain his championship and avenge the only loss on his record.^[12][13] Following the bout, Cruz was awarded his blue belt under Lloyd Irvin, Jr.

Cruz defeated Demetrious Johnson via unanimous decision on October 1, 2011 at UFC on Versus 6, his second UFC title defense. Cruz is expected to face Urijah Faber for a third time for the UFC bantamweight championship after Faber defeated Brian Bowles at UFC 139 in a bantamweight title eliminator bout.^[14]

In December 2011, Cruz was selected to coach the The Ultimate Fighter: Live against opposing coach Urijah Faber.^[15] The rubber match between Cruz and Faber was expected to take place on July 7, 2012 at UFC 148.^[16] However, on May 7, 2012, Cruz was forced to pull out of the bout citing a knee injury.^[17]

Personal life[link]

Cruz's father is of Mexican descent. He lived with his mother and brother in Tucson, Arizona until he was kicked out at the age of 19 for hosting a house party. He worked as a customer service representative and was studying to be a firefighter at a community college before becoming a full-time fighter.^[18]

Championships and accomplishments[link]

Mixed Martial Arts[link]

• Ultimate Fighting Championship
  • UFC Bantamweight Championship (One time; current)
  • Fight of the Night (One time)

• World Extreme Cagefighting
  • WEC Bantamweight Championship (One time; last)
  • Fight of the Night (One time)
  • Two successful title defenses

• USA Today
  • 2010 Fighter of the Year

Mixed martial arts record[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• UFC Profile
• Professional MMA record for Dominic Cruz from Sherdog

Urijah Faber
Born	Urijah Christopher Faber (1979-05-14) May 14, 1979 (age 33) Isla Vista, California, United States
Other names	The California Kid
Nationality	American
Height	5 ft 6 in (1.68 m)
Weight	135 lb (61 kg; 9.6 st)
Division	Bantamweight Featherweight
Reach	69.0 in (175 cm)
Fighting out of	Sacramento, California
Team	Team Alpha Male
Trainer	Thonglor "Master Thong" Armatsena Fabio "Pateta" Prado
Rank	Brown belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Wrestling	NCAA Division I Wrestling
Years active	2003–present
Mixed martial arts record
Total	31
Wins	26
By knockout	7
By submission	14
By decision	4
By disqualification	1
Losses	5
By knockout	2
By decision	3
University	University of California, Davis
Notable school(s)	Lincoln High School
Website	http://www.urijahfaber.com/
Mixed martial arts record from Sherdog
last updated on: November 23, 2011

Urijah Christopher Faber^[1] (born May 14, 1979) is an American mixed martial artist currently fighting as a bantamweight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship organization. Faber won the WEC featherweight championship at WEC 19 on March 17, 2006 and held the title for over two years until his loss to Mike Brown at WEC 36 on November 5, 2008. As of November 2011, Faber is ranked the #2 bantamweight in the world by Sherdog.^[2]

Faber is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu brown belt under Fabio "Pateta" Prado,^[3] who, under Carlson Gracie Jr., is a 5th degree black belt.

Early life[link]

Faber was born on May 14, 1979, in Isla Vista, California, to Theo and Suzanne Faber, and grew up in Lincoln. He is of Dutch descent on his fathers side and Italian descent on his mothers side.^{[citation needed]} He went to Glen Edwards Middle School for Jr. High and Lincoln High School for high school.^[4] He has two siblings, an older brother named Ryan and a younger sister named Michaella. His sister almost died after a Thanksgiving 2011 car accident.^[5] Faber graduated from the University of California at Davis with a Bachelors degree in human development.

Mixed martial arts career[link]

Faber made his professional MMA debut as part of the Gladiator Challenge promotion on November 12, 2003, defeating Jay Valencia by a guillotine choke at 1:22 of round 1. Faber then defeated George Adkins by TKO (strikes) on February 12, 2004, earning a shot at GC Bantamweight champion, David Velasquez. On June 6, 2004, Faber defeated Velasquez by unanimous decision, becoming the new GC Bantamweight champion. In his first title defense, Faber defeated Del Hawkins by TKO(strikes) at 3:19 of the first round on August 19, 2004. After this fight, Faber began to take fights in both GC and King of the Cage, GC's parent promotion.

Upon moving to KOTC, Faber defeated Rami Boukai by majority decision on September 24, 2004, barely a month after his last fight. On November 14, 2004, Faber defeated Eben Kaneshiro by submission (strikes) to win the KOTC Bantamweight championship, co-holding it with the GC Bantamweight title.

On March 13, 2005, Faber made his return to GC, defeating David Granados by rear naked choke at 2:13 of round 1. On May 7, 2005, he defended his KOTC belt for the first time, defeating Hiroyuki Abe by TKO (cut) at 2:37 of the third round. Returning to GC on September 10, 2005, Faber had his first defeat, losing the GC Bantamweight championship to Tyson Griffin by TKO (strikes) at :05 seconds of round 3.

On October 29, 2005, Faber defended his KOTC title again, defeating Shawn Bias by guillotine choke at 1:24 of the first round. He returned to GC on December 11, 2005, defeating Charles Bennett by rear naked choke at 4:38 of round 1. Faber then fought at a TKO Major League MMA event on January 8, 2006, facing Ivan Menjivar. Faber won by disqualification at 2:02 of the second round when Menjivar landed an illegal kick to a downed Faber.

World Extreme Cagefighting[link]

On March 17, 2006, Faber competed for the first time in the World Extreme Cagefighting promotion, beating Cole Escovedo by second round doctors stoppage and winning the WEC Featherweight Championship. On May 13, 2006, he fought for the KOTC Bantamweight title for the third time, defeating Charlie Valencia by rear naked choke at 3:09 of the first round. Faber then returned to GC July 1, 2006 and defeated Naoya Uematsu by TKO(strikes) at 3:35 of round 2 to reclaim the GC Bantamweight championship, thus holding three titles at once. Faber then took a fight in the Full Contact Promotions organization on September 9, 2006, defeating Enoch Wilson by TKO (strikes) at 1:01 of the second round. On October 28, Faber returned to KOTC and defended his title for the fourth and last time, defeating Bibiano Fernandes by TKO (cut) at 4:16 of round 1. Faber later vacated his KOTC and GC titles upon signing a contract with the WEC after it was purchased by Zuffa in December 2006.

At WEC 25: McCullough vs. Cope on January 20, 2007, Faber defended his WEC Featherweight title for the first time since winning it ten months prior, defeating Joe Pearson by submission(strikes) at 2:31 of the first round. At WEC 26: Condit vs. Alessio on March 24, 2007, he successfully defended his title for a second time by defeating Dominick Cruz by guillotine choke at 1:38 of round 1, the only loss on Cruz's record.

At WEC 28: WrekCage on June 3, 2007, Faber defeated Chance Farrar by rear naked choke at 3:19 of the first round. In his postfight interview, Faber called out K-1 Hero's 2005 middleweight (154 lb) tournament champion Norifumi Yamamoto, though this fight has yet to take place. After this match, Faber took a six month break between fights, the longest of his career. He came back at WEC 31: Faber vs. Curran on December 12, 2007, defeating Jeff Curran by guillotine choke at 4:34 of the second round. Also on this card was the WEC debut of Jens Pulver, who was moving back down to featherweight from the 155 lb lightweight division. In Jens WEC debut, he submitted Cub Swanson in the first round of their match setting up a title match between Pulver and Faber. Pulver and Faber both commented in their postfight interviews that they wanted to fight each other, and the match was signed for June 1, 2008 at WEC 34: Faber vs. Pulver. Faber and Pulver fought a constant back-and-forth battle, but neither man was able to finish the other and the fight went the full five rounds, the first time in Faber's WEC career that one of his fights had gone the distance. The judges scored the bout a unanimous decision for Faber, 50–45, 50–44 and 50–44. This fight also marked both the first time that one of Pulver's fights at featherweight had gone to decision and the first time Pulver had been defeated at that weight class.

Losing the title[link]

Faber was next scheduled to fight Mike Brown at WEC 36 on September 10, 2008 at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida. However, this fight was postponed due to the threat of Hurricane Ike and was rescheduled for November 5, 2008 at the same location. Faber was defeated via TKO at 2:23 of the first round.

Road back to the title[link]

On January 25, 2009 at WEC 38 Faber fought Jens Pulver in a rematch, with Faber winning by guillotine choke at 1:34 of the first round. Post-fight, Faber addressed WEC featherweight champion Mike Brown, who was seated at ringside and announced he wanted a shot at regaining his title. When Brown made his first successful title defense at WEC 39 in Corpus Christi, Texas, he responded to Faber's comments by saying that a rematch between the two of them was something "the fans want to see."

Faber was defeated a second time by Mike Brown at WEC 41 on June 7, 2009 by a unanimous decision (49–46, 49–46 and 48–47) in front of his hometown crowd in Sacramento. Early in the fight, Faber broke his right hand and later dislocated his left thumb, resorting to using primarily elbows and kicks starting in round 3. Nonetheless, even in the fifth round Faber threw 15 left hooks or jabs, many of which connected. Sherdog and ESPN.com in a post-fight article noted that Faber's "right hand was no match for the top of Mike Brown's head." Immediately after the fight, Faber stated that despite the close (but controversial nevertheless) decision, he would still like another fight against Brown. Though a lot of people thought Faber's incredible heart and performances in rounds 1, 3 and 5 did enough to win himself (Faber) the fight, as Faber very easily won first round, out-striking Brown and then suffering those hand injuries at the end of the round and controlled rounds 3 and 5 with multiple accurate and quick leg and body kicks as well as in round 5 surprisingly left hook and jabbing strikes. However Brown won round 2 dominantly and won round 4 closely, which is what the judges thought was more significant to give Brown the controversial decision victory.

Faber appeared on WEC 43 as a guest commentator and returned to action in January. He submitted Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, Raphael Assuncao via rear naked choke in third round at WEC 46,^[6] earning the Submission of the Night award.^[7]

With the victory over Assuncao, Faber earned a shot to fight Jose Aldo for the WEC Featherweight Championship on April 24, 2010 at WEC 48.^[8] He was dominated throughout the fight by Aldo, mostly by his kicks that sent him to the canvas several times. Faber lost via unanimous decision.^[9]

Move to Bantamweight[link]

Faber decided to move down to Bantamweight after his defeat by Jose Aldo at featherweight. Faber was set to move back down to bantamweight against Japanese striker Takeya Mizugaki on August 18, 2010 at WEC 50.^[10] However, Faber was forced off the card with an injury. As a result, Mizugaki was also pulled from the event.^[11] Faber defeated Mizugaki via first round rear naked choke at WEC 52, earning Submission of the Night honors.^[12][13] With the victory over Mizugaki, Faber won his ninth WEC bout, a promotional record he shares with Antonio Banuelos and Poppies Martinez.

Ultimate Fighting Championship[link]

On October 28, 2010, World Extreme Cagefighting merged with the Ultimate Fighting Championship. As part of the merger, all WEC fighters were brought over to compete in the 2 new weight divisions.^[14] Upon his UFC debut, Faber was the only WEC fighter to compete in the promotion before Zuffa, LLC owned them, compete exclusively for the WEC until the UFC/WEC merger, and then move over to the UFC.

Faber defeated former WEC Bantamweight Champion Eddie Wineland via unanimous decision in his UFC debut on March 19, 2011 at UFC 128.^[15]

A rematch with Dominick Cruz, whose only defeat came by Faber in 2007, took place on July 2, 2011 at UFC 132, in which Faber lost via unanimous decision, the bout earned Fight of the Night honors.^[16]

Faber faced Brian Bowles on November 19, 2011 at UFC 139.^[17] Faber defeated Bowles via second round submission (guillotine choke), earning Submission of the Night honors. Faber is now expected to fight a trilogy with Dominick Cruz.^[18]

Following his win at UFC 139, Faber was selected to be a coach on The Ultimate Fighter: Live opposite Dominick Cruz.^[19] Following the conclusion of the reality show, Faber/Cruz III was expected to take place on July 7, 2012 at UFC 148.^[20] However, Cruz was forced to pull out of the bout citing ACL injury.^[21] Faber will remain on the card and face Renan Barão in a bout for the UFC Interim Bantamweight Championship.^[22]

Personal life[link]

Faber has been dating Rachelle Leah since the latter part 2011.

Championships and awards[link]

Mixed Martial Arts[link]

• Ultimate Fighting Championship
  • Fight of the Night (One Time)
  • Submission of the Night (One Time)
• World Extreme Cagefighting
  • WEC Featherweight Championship (One time)
  • Five successful title defenses
  • Fight of the night (Two Times)
  • Submission of the Night (Three Times)
  • Most consecutive title defenses in the WEC (Five)
• King of the Cage
  • KOTC Bantamweight Championship (One time)
  • Four successful title defenses

Mixed martial arts record[link]