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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
UFC Bantamweight Champion Dominick Cruz recently lamented the fact that he still doesn't have a return timetable from injury, despite having already been out of action for 18 months. That uncertainty, in conjunction with the fact that Renan Barao is rolling through the division as the Interim Bantamweight Champion, led to some speculation and discussion that the UFC may indeed strip him of the title.
However, UFC President Dana White made it clear this week that this was simply not the case, and Cruz will remain their Bantamweight Champ until he's beaten.
Cruz hasn't competed since defeating Demetrious "Mighty Mouse" Johnson in October of 2011. To put it in perspective, his last fight headlined the UFC's final event on Versus, before that network was rebranded and the UFC went to Fox.
A serious knee injury suffered last spring required surgery, and after his body rejected the first cadaver ligament used in surgery, he was required to undergo a second procedure, which has delayed his return indefinitely.
Penick's Analysis: Cruz is already beyond the time out of the cage that led Frank Mir to being stripped of the title, and more than anything, doing so could possibly be the right move for Cruz's future. He won't ever ask for anything less than the best, but it's going to be impossible to come back at 100% from this injury in his first fight. It's just not realistic, especially when he'll have been out of the cage for two years or more. Simply put, for him and his career, easing back into things in a non-title fight could be beneficial. But that's not the route they're going, and while I understand why, I just hope, again for his sake, that his return condition isn't significantly less than the level in which he left.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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