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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
UFC Bantamweight Champion Dominick Cruz has only been defeated once in his career, a submission loss to Urijah Faber in the WEC in 2007. He avenged that loss - barely - last summer, besting Faber by decision despite getting knocked down several times throughout the fight.
The two of them will now meet for a third time this summer after a stint coaching on The Ultimate Fighter, which begins its first live season next Friday night on FX. As he's preparing for 13 weeks alongside his nemesis, the challenger Faber is feeling supremely confident in his ability to take the title from Cruz when they step back in the cage against one another.
"The guy's a good fighter. He's good at what he does, which is scoring some points," Faber said on Monday's new edition of Inside MMA on HDNet. "He's not dangerous. He's not scary. I knocked him down three different times in three different rounds. He had 11 takedown attempts and basically got one and a half, and that's about it. If the guy thinks I don't know how to beat him... I already did beat him!"
"He's alive right now because there [are] rules in MMA and I had to release his neck and let him breathe! You're welcome, Dominick Cruz, for giving you life and letting you live. Next time, I'm gonna do the same thing. I'm gonna let you live, but it's gonna be painful. That's what fighting's about, right? And that's how I approach the fight. Let's finish this fight. And he's doing 'point fighting.' This isn't a karate tournament. I mean, do you wanna take hits to the head away next?"
Penick's Analysis: You can be sure we're going to get a lot more of this over the next 13 weeks on FX, and it will culminate in what should be one hell of a Championship fight this summer. Faber absolutely had a case for taking the decision in their rematch last summer, especially with several knockdowns of Cruz coming into play. He failed to fully capitalize, and that likely swayed judges, but he has the skills and the knowledge about Cruz to defeat him. And he's right, he has already beat him once, and he feels he can find a way to do it once again. This is going to be a fantastic rubber match, and hopefully the fight's profile gets boosted through the two of them coaching on this new season of TUF.
[Urijah Faber art by Grant Gould (c) MMATorch.com]
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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