UFC Fight Night: Dillashaw vs. Cruz Media Day

DOMINICK CRUZ (20-1) BANTAMWEIGHT

That’s something that you can’t expect people to understand. Nobody knows how hard it actually was. All I can do is know it for myself, and that’s what this has to become.

This has to become a test with yourself for what I’m trying to do. I didn’t have to come back and fight one of the best guys in the world after another year layoff. The UFC called me and asked me if I wanted a title shot – hell yeah, I want a title shot.

And that’s a test. It’s not like I was like, “Oh, this should be easy.” No. I was like, “Alright. What are you made of, Dominick? How good are you? How much have you evolved? How much have you kept? How tough are you? Can you do it?”

You think those aren’t questions in my head? Come on. But I put in the work, put in the time; I put in the energy. Put in the blood and the sweat and the tears. And I got to believe and have faith in my toughness because it’s gotten me this far.

What I benefited from the time off is just understanding. I got to look at everybody. A lot of times when you’re in it, you’re so emotionally involved that you can’t really see things for what they are.

But when I was hurt and out and wasn’t emotionally in it, I could see things with a whole different light; I wasn’t connected to it anymore. So I could break it down and see things for what they were. Without the nerves, without the anxiety, without the thoughts, without the fears.

So once I did that, it just helped my brain understand. It helped my brain understand not just where I was – and that I was far ahead, and that I was adding new things to the sport that hadn’t been seen – but that people were using it to be effective after I was gone. That was incredible to me, and I couldn’t have seen that if I was in it.

I agree – I think I am (one of the smartest guys in the history of the sport). I agree one hundred percent with that. But fighter IQ, you know – that helps for jobs, that helps for talking – but it doesn’t help in that fight. Not really, in my opinion.

Adjustments and acuity all add up in the fight scenarios, but really that’s got to be a natural thing. I didn’t always know everything I know about fighting, and I still went through and won fights. That’s a mentality, that’s a grit and that’s something in your heart.