Dominick Cruz: I hope nobody ever has to go through what I did
It took Dominick Cruz nearly four years to put his body back together after a devastating series of injuries, but when he finally returned, he made it to the top of the sport again by winning back the UFC bantamweight title from TJ Dillashaw in January.
Cruz was the only bantamweight champion the UFC had known until he suffered his first knee injury, which eventually turned into three separate surgeries along with a torn groin.
Cruz fought only one time over four years so his chances of returning seemed slim, much less returning and defeating Dillashaw with the title on the line. Cruz pulled off the impossible, which is now being hailed as one of the greatest comeback stories of all time.
Still, as vindicated as Cruz stands today with the UFC title back around his waist, he would never wish what he went through on his worst enemy.
"I hope nobody else has to go through it," Cruz told FOX Sports. "I hope for the rest of everybody's natural lives, nobody else has to go through that."
In his time away from fighting, Cruz stayed busy with a new career built as an analyst at FOX, and he's been regarded as one of the best minds in the business when it comes to breaking down all the technicalities of the sport.
Throughout those four years suffering through injuries, Cruz always maintained a positive outlook on the future and never once mentioned words like “retirement” or even contemplated another career choice.
In large part, Cruz believes his mindset was a big part of his return journey to the Octagon because keeping a positive outlook was literally the only thing he was able to control on a day-to-day basis.
"I've said this several times, you're only as strong as the challenges you beat. I've beaten these challenges so I've evolved as a human and as a man and now I have all these gifts," Cruz explained.
"I had a choice during this time to make these things a gift or a curse. It was my choice. I decided when I hurt myself in the beginning the only way I was going to make it a gift was to stay positive and not allowing them to look like a curse. I couldn't let everybody dress my problems up like the Grim Reaper. I had to put flowers all over it and sunshine all over it so I could make it a positive thing and grow from it."
Cruz knew that so much of his recovery was just a matter of time and patience so he approached each day as a new challenge and eventually he was able to go from crawling to walking to running.
"Think about all the things I went through that people were feeling bad for me about and I could have easily felt bad for myself about," Cruz said. "What's the one thing I could have controlled? Could I have controlled the injuries? No. Could I control that everybody felt bad for me that I couldn't compete and other people had the title and said they were better than me? No, I couldn't control that either. Could I control that I couldn't make money in prize fighting? No. So what you learn is what can I control?
"The one thing I could control is that I was positive. I knew I could do it. I believed in myself. As long as I kept the faith, there was no way I could be stopped."
The result paid off huge in the end with Cruz's victory over Dillashaw to win back the bantamweight title he never actually lost in the first place.
Cruz also enjoyed the feeling of a crowd being on his side for the first time in a long while after so many people followed his story and cheered on his recovery. Cruz was always one of the top fighters in the sport, but never viewed as the most popular choice with fans.
Now it looks like that's just one more corner Cruz has turned in his return to the Octagon.
"I felt more love from this fight than any I've had in my career," Cruz said. "I definitely felt the support. I think people could grasp a little bit what I had gone through, all the things I had taken away from me and they could resonate with that. A lot of people had my back.
