UFC Fight Night: Dominick Cruz vs. TJ Dillashaw results

Dominick Cruz, 30, won back his UFC Bantamweight crown against reigning champ TJ Dillashaw in a neck-to-neck fight at Boston’s TD Garden on January 17.

Note: Full results from rest of the card available at the bottom of the page. So in the end we had a split decision, with judge Sal D’Amato seeing the fight for Dillashaw but Tony Weeks (49-46) and Dave Ginsburg (48-47) outvoting him.

That said, the new champ admitted he had respect for Dillashaw before they stepped into the Octagon. But Dominick Cruz soon found a way to draw the attention back to his comeback.

Faber handed Cruz the only loss of his career in a World Extreme Cagefighting featherweight title bout in 2007. After the fight during the post-fight interview, Cruz said it wasn’t the leg kicks causing him to limp. One fight in almost five years, that was the kind of pace that Cruz was keeping as an “active” fighter on the UFC roster. It was a razor-thin competition that sliced the opinions of media and fans in half regarding who won. Late in the round, Dillashaw landed a knee to the midsection.

Then he called out dos Anjos, who hasn’t looked like he’s ready to relinquish the belt he took from Pettis any time soon. Dillashaw was clearly upset after the fight and didn’t seem to agree with the decision. “But we were fighting, so when you’re in a fight with someone and they’re talking about taking your head off and knocking you out in two rounds, and not getting any respect whatsoever”.

Of everything that happened in Sunday’s fight – some of the best footwork in the sport from both men, lightning-quick exchanges on the feet, world-class scrambling on the mat – perhaps nothing better represented the match going in Cruz’s favour than his takedowns of Dillashaw in each of the first four rounds. The Alliance MMA product has had three ACL surgeries and a groin tear in his time off. Cruz said plantar fasciitis is a common ailment among athletes and wishes he could have wrapped his feet. I’ve seen different guys move like him. “I just had to tough it out”. He always believed he was capable, but also felt an extra push from all those who stood behind him. Cruz landed the first heavy shot of the fight, landing a solid step-in right hand.

Charles Rosa chats backstage with UFC correspondent Megan Olivi following his grueling, unanimous decision win over Kyle Bochniak in the UFC FIGHT PASS Prelims at UFC Fight Night: Dillashaw vs. Cruz.

Stipe Miocic all but guaranteed himself a title shot with his win against Arlovski back at UFC 195, UFC president Dana White said. Despite a strong start, Mitrione’s performance suffered after a pair of strong eye pokes from Browne.

Ross Pearson meanwhile is still searching for consistency in the Octagon after dropping a decision to Francisco Trinaldo. Ed Herman was also victorious with a vicious second round knockout of Tim Boetsch. He showed a lot of composure to wait for his moment and spring the rear-naked choke on Blanco instead of unloading a series of follow-up punches. Dillashaw upset the bantamweight division and took over.

Ilir Latifi had the Knockout of the Night, or at least, the fastest knockout of the night.

Cruz remained undefeated at 135-pounds with the win.