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Blessed with footwork that’s permanently set
on fast forward, Dominick Cruz is one of
the quickest fighters in the UFC.
Bryan Schatz caught up
with the turbo-charged
bantamweight to talk training,
injuries and making sacrifices
ven when wearing a knee brace that restricts the movement of his entire left leg, Dominick Cruz
just can’t sit still. He’s pacing around the workout room of Alliance MMA gym in Carlsbad, California,
muttering something about lunch and a new shirt and whether or not he should keep his hat on or
off for the photoshoot. He walks to the tractor tires in the back and then to the glass door by the
front desk before returning to where we’re setting up. All the while, his eyes scan the gym as if he’s searching for
something that’s long been lost.
We’re here to pilfer and distribute his training secrets and signature techniques. But the UFC bantamweight
champion is feeling fidgety. Cruz has a kind of frenetic energy that seems to force him into continuous movement. Resting isn’t something that comes easy.
Though his body’s wandering all over the place, his mind is set on one thing, and it isn’t our meeting.
He’s thinking about training, working the heavy bags, hitting focus mitts and repeating ladder drills over and over
until the foot placements are burned into muscle memory. Cruz wants to fight. But he can’t.
For over a month he’s been out with a torn ACL, and he doesn’t know what to do with himself. “All I ever do
is train. So now I have to find another way to live until I’m healthy. It’s confusing,” he says, candidly.
Cruz had been scheduled to defend his title against Urijah Faber – the first (and only) man to beat him – at UFC
148, but before their clash could occur he blew out his knee while training on The Ultimate Fighter: Live,
Season 15 of the UFC’s reality television show. X
E
40 | OCTOBER 2012 | FIGHTING FIT
CARL
JOHN
KELL
FIGHTERS
FRAMPTON
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HATHAWAY
48
BROOK
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I N T H E I R OW N WO R D S
FIGHTING FIT | OCTOBER 2012 | 41
“I’M SICK OF
HIM BEING
COMPARED
TO ME AND
I’M JUST SICK
OF HEARING
‘FABER’”
42 | OCTOBER 2012 | FIGHTING FIT
FIGHTERS / CRUZ
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MONDAY
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
SUNDAY
WRESTLING: AM
S&C: PM
KICKBOXING: AM
PADS/DRILLS: PM
WRESTLING: AM
S&C: PM
KICKBOXING: AM
PADS/DRILLS: PM
SPARRING: AM
S&C: AM
OFF
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and for bare minimum, and it’s to support their
families and to make their lives better. When you
look at any Mexican fighter they all have a stylistic
comparison: they all like to fight; they’re all good at it
and they’re all tough as nails. They never give up.”
That attitude also comes from his mother, who,
when their father took off, raised Cruz and his
brother single-handedly for much of their
adolescence. “There’s a lot of things my mom put in
me that made me who I am today,” says Cruz.
“She showed me what work ethic is. I still strive to be
like her every day.”
FIGHTING MADE EASY
TEACHER:
Cruz imparts to Jury
the lessons of his
strike-and-move
philosophy
On TUF the two were pitted against each other as
opposing coaches, and their season-ending battle
would have made for their third bout.
For Cruz though, it was much more than that.
He was finally going to put an end to the
‘Urijah Faber’ chapter of his career.
“It’s like everything has been routed through him,
and I’m sick of it. I’m sick of seeing his name next to
mine. I’m sick of him being compared to me and I’m
just sick of hearing ‘Faber’,” says an agitated Cruz.
Now he’s on the sidelines watching others train;
on 27 July he saw Renan Barao defeat the man he
so keenly wants to destroy, and it’s killing him. “I just
want to shut it all down,” he says, but he’ll have to
wait for Faber, while he climbs back up the ranks.
Aside from this recent injury, Cruz has been an
unstoppable force in the 135lb weight class. On a
commanding 10-fight winning streak, during which
he avenged his sole loss to Faber and ran through
the top five contenders in the division, he now has a
19-1 professional record and four title victories.
He doesn’t take any of it for granted. Despite
what appears to be supremacy over his peers, Cruz is
feeling the urgency of needing to train again. Every
day he’s out, someone else – like Barao, perhaps – is in
the gym getting better.
“Every other thing that you start or worry about –
that takes time away from the gym. Somebody
else is only fighting, and that’s all they care about.
And they’re going to pass you.”
Being out with an injury is a particularly hard pill for
Cruz to swallow because of how many he’s had to
fight through. But more than anything, he despises it
when others use it as an excuse.
One of “the most disappointing moments” of Cruz’s
career came from an injury, not his own, but of Bryan
Bowles during their war in 2010. Cruz tells me,
“He broke his hand. I also broke mine. But he quit in
the middle of the fight, so I got the title by him just
giving it to me. You don’t want to win a world title
like that.”
Cruz says he noticed something was wrong with
his own hand with 1-53 left in the second round.
He knew it was bad, but thought, “You’re fighting for
a world title and it does not matter if your hand is
broken. Figure it out.”
It wouldn’t be the only time Cruz fought with
busted fists. He all but ruined his left index finger
during training camp for his first title defence
at WEC 50, against Joseph Benavidez. Instead of
having surgery right away, he chose to fight
through the pain, out-landing Benavidez 103-46
in total strikes, and dealt with it only after he reaffirmed his champion status. It happened again at
WEC 53 with Scott Jorgensen. Then, most recently,
he broke his right hand in the first of a five-round
battle with Demetrius Johnson. For more than 20
minutes he used his broken hand as a battering ram
to take a decision victory after the last bell rang.
Cruz didn’t mention it during the post-fight press
conference, which impressed the hard-to-impress
UFC President Dana White, who in his typical
candour said “You know one of the things I respect
about the kid? He’s got a broken hand and had one
the entire fight… not only did he not stop fighting
and keep coming up 100 per cent, he doesn’t even
fucking say anything about it.”
Cruz credits much of this toughness to his Mexican
heritage; something he didn’t actually experience
growing up in his home. That portion of his genetic
make-up comes from his father, a man who wasn’t
around. Nonetheless, it’s “in his blood.”
“There’s just something about the Mexican people
that I really admire. They work harder than anybody
It’s halfway through the photoshoot and Cruz stops
to explain how to create angles using footwork to
Alliance MMA team-mate Miles Jury. They’re taking
turns on offence, Cruz hobbling a bit and favouring his good leg. Cruz extends the discussion to his
philosophy on winning fights. It’s a simple mantra
– “hit and don’t get hit” – that’s such a cliché it’s
almost laughable, yet Cruz regularly manages to do
almost exactly that. He talks enthusiastically about
how to accomplish this: you have to be able to throw
punches from any position; you have to constantly
taunt opponents, using feints and punches as
distractions to conceal superior footwork; and lastly,
you have to find balance within imbalance.
To illustrate what he means, Cruz flails around the
gym with feet in swift and incongruous movement,
crossing and uncrossing his legs and nearly tumbling
over, throwing air punches all the while. “You just
have to do a bunch of stupid shit with your feet,” he
laughs, then stops. “But if I keep that up I’ll ruin my
knee again.”
It’s not exactly that simple. Cruz spends a lot of
time running ladder drills that get consecutively more
complicated, aiming to increase muscle memory,
which breeds speed, and getting his body adjusted to
positions you wouldn’t think it were possible to wind
up in. Used as either a warm-up or cool down, ladder
drills and other footwork practise is one of the
elements of his training that Cruz takes over for
himself. “It seems insignificant and stupid, but it’s
stuff that I’ve done over and over for so many years
that it becomes a huge deal.”
As MMA becomes increasingly defined as its own
sport, fighters today still prefer to stick to what
they’re good at, argues Cruz. To be a champion, you
have to stay outside your comfort zone as much as
possible. That is, until you become comfortable no
matter what position you’re in. “Then you’ll never be
uncomfortable.”
He takes up the subject and runs with it. “You’re
only as good as the positions you put yourself in.
Wherever I’m least comfortable, I try to focus on it
and force myself to train it with the best individuals
possible. For example, if my wrestling is weak, then
I’m going to get an Olympic champion to come in
and I probably won’t score one takedown on him for
three months. But when I get that first takedown at
month four, I will have made myself better.” X
FIGHTING FIT | OCTOBER 2012 | 43
CRUZ FOOTWORK DRILL
Dominick Cruz likes to taunt his opponents, and he wants to
do it without getting hit. He accomplishes this with footwork.
When used in combination with constant movement, feints and a
peppering of strikes, footwork creates angles that enable you to
strike without taking any punches yourself. Here’s an example:
TECHNIQUE: CREATING ANGLES
Step-by-step
1
2
1) Set up your
footwork by being in
constant motion. Move
in and out of range,
use feints and jabs to
taunt your opponent.
3
2) Step two involves
three movements
occurring at the same
time: Throw a straight cross
down the centre line while
simultaneously taking a long
step with your lead leg.
As you move forward pull
your head off of center,
to the outside of your
opponent’s shoulder.
3) Now your weight
should be heavy on your
lead leg. Use that weight
to help pivot on the lead
foot and bring your rear leg in
place. You now have the angle,
and can continue throwing
punches as they readjust.
DETAILS:
tThis works as both an offensive attack and a counter if your
opponent is pressuring you. When they move forward on the
offensive, beat their feet with the cross and long step.
tBegin with feints and strikes as distractions. “You want them
to forget about your feet,” says Cruz.
TROUBLESHOOTING:
tMake sure your head
is to the outside
of your opponent’s
elbow and shoulder
when you throw the
cross.
tThe step you take
with the cross has
to be a long one to
make sure you beat
their feet and actually
get the angle. A shorter
step will only put you
right in front of them.
44 | OCTOBER 2012 | FIGHTING FIT
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Each section is performed as a circuit. For example, the Monday ‘A’ section lists deadlifts, depth jumps and mobility drills. They’re performed as 1 set of 5 reps each and then repeated until all 5 sets are
completed. So, you perform 5 reps of A1, A2 and A3 consecutively, with 60 seconds of rest only after all three movements are done (that is, there are no rests in between each exercise). Do this until the five
sets are completed. Then have 2–3 minutes of rest before moving on to the next section (In this case, B). Follow this pattern until the end of the workout.
MONDAY:
WEDNESDAY:
SATURDAY:
DYNAMIC WARM-UP
TURKISH GET-UPS 2 sets x 3 reps
DYNAMIC WARM-UP
TURKISH GET-UPS 2x3
DYNAMIC WARM-UP
TURKISH GET-UPS 2x3
A1 DEADLIFT 5x5 A2 DEPTH JUMP 5x5
A3 T-SPINE MOBILITY DRILL 5x5
A1 TRX ROWS 2x15
A2 HEAVY ROPE SLAMS 2x15
A3 INCLINE TREADMILL RUN 2x30 seconds
A4 PROWLER PUSH 2x20 yards
A5 PUMMEL OR SHADOW BOX 2x30 seconds
A1 SQUAT 5x5 A2 BROAD JUMP 5x5
A3 T-SPINE MOBILITY DRILL 5x5
B1 DB FLOOR PRESS 5x5; B2 MB CHEST THROWS 5x5
B3 HIP MOBILITY DRILL 5x5
C1 HIP THRUSTER 3x12 C2 PUSH-UP VARIATION 3x12
C3 TRX AB CIRCUIT 3x20
Everyone has weaknesses, but what’s even
sweeter is exploiting another’s strengths and using
them to your advantage.
“In MMA especially, and this is what I love about the
sport, is that you can make up for anything you’re not
good at somewhere else. If one guy’s better than me,
then I’m going to make up for it in cardio. I’m going to
make him so tired that he’s not better than me in that
fourth round. Now we’re even. If he’s stronger than
me, I’m going to make him miss so much that come
round two or three, he’s so frustrated and so mad by
not being able to use his strength that he frustrates
himself and gives me the fight by letting me pick him
apart my way.”
Even among top-tier athletes, Cruz has an
uncommon kind of work ethic. When other fighters
relax between fights, Cruz is in the gym preparing for
whatever war is coming next.
“The key to my success is I’m going to give 100 per
cent of myself to one thing and one thing only, and
nothing is going to get in my way. Nothing is going to
distract me. If I have to sacrifice something to make
sure I stay the course, then I’m going to sacrifice it.”
Listening to Cruz ruminate on the virtues of
discipline and commitment is exhausting. It’s as if he’s
perpetually starring in his own Rocky film, one where
the molehills are all Mount Everest and every minute
there’s another Apollo Creed to slaughter.
“Yeah,” says Eric Del Fierro, Cruz’s head coach at
Alliance MMA. “Dom is a really intense guy.”
SPARRING, STRENGTH, STRATEGY
To help him turn his buzzing energy into focused
practise, Del Fierro works with Cruz on his stand-up,
grappling and gameplanning, and Doug Balzarini
serves as the mastermind behind Alliance’s S&C
programme. But they’re both as relentless as Cruz.
Del Fierro says, “Dominick is fighting five-round
fights now, and he’s a cardio machine. So a typical
week includes two mornings dedicated to two hours
of grappling, one day to wrestling, cage work or
fight-specific drilling.” At least 12 five-minute rounds
are committed to hard MMA sparring per week.
“This is where people get hurt,” Del Fierro declares.
“People get knocked out; they get beat up; they’re
full-on fighting.”
In the evenings, four nights a week, they’ll work
the pads for 10-15 five-minute rounds, but more if
necessary. “Sometimes we can get done what needs
to be done early, but we’ll go as many rounds as it
takes to get something right.”
Their S&C agenda is more calculated. Headed by
Balzarini, Cruz’s fitness programme operates on a
‘two-phase approach.’ First is their “out of camp”
B1 PULLUP VARIATION 5x5 B2 MB SLAMS 5x5
B3 HIP MOBILITY DRILL 5x5
C1 KETTLEBELL SWINGS 3x20
C2 KETTLEBELL ‘FARMER’S WALKS’ 3x20 yards
CHOMPING AT THE BIT:
Cruz is limited by
his injury but is
desperate to return
to full training
training, which consists of simply building a strong
foundational strength base. Balzarini keeps it
traditional: “One of my goals as a strength coach is
to have my athletes as strong as possible for their
weight class. My ‘secret’ training protocol to achieve
this is simply good old-fashioned strength training.
I predominantly deadlift and squat for lower-body
strength and include pulls and pushes for the upper
body.” (See sample ‘out-of-camp’ S&C table.)
Phase two occurs during camp, the 8-10 weeks
leading up to a fight. “We’ll still work some of our
compound lifts; however, we shift our attention a bit
to focus more on metabolic conditioning and injury
prevention. The conditioning work includes treadmill
sprints, hill runs and circuit training. The injury
prevention work is a lot of joint mobility drills,
core stability exercises and flexibility movements.”
One of Cruz’s most obvious weapons is his speed,
but outside of Cruz’s own addictive, repetition-based
training habits on his own time, Del Fierro says, “there
is no specific speed focus.” Instead they centre on
tactics they believe will work on the next challenger.
For Scott Jorgenson at WEC 53, they drilled throwing
hand and feet combinations to lead into takedowns.
With Urijah Faber, it was about maintaining
long-range striking to stay outside Faber’s punches
and kicks. For UFC Live 6 against Demetrius Johnson,
they wanted to sit still and draw Johnson in, to catch
him with an uppercut and then a hook. They’d let
him run into a knee, then clench and take him down
with Greco.
The one constant is that they want Cruz in
perpetual motion. “That weight division [bantamweight] is always moving and always scrambling.
There is no complacency in this sport and there is no
such thing as relaxing.”
THE WAITING GAME
Two weeks after meeting Cruz at Alliance Gym, we’re
talking on the phone and he’s still fuming about
Urijah Faber. But now there’s another potential
adversary on his mind: Renan Barao. “New blood,”
says Cruz. There’s no guarantee he’ll get that
match-up either though, at least not yet. According
to Del Fierro, all that’s certain is “there will be no
tune-up fights for Dominick. He’ll fight whoever’s
holding the belt next.”
But before anything can happen, the injured champ
is going to have to wait. He’s going to have to find
a way to sit still. And for a guy whose instincts call
for constant motion, resting may be his hardest
challenge yet. Q
FIGHTING FIT | OCTOBER 2012 | 45