UFC Boston: Main Event Preview

This Sunday Dominick Cruz returns to the Octagon after a long absence due to injury, the road back hasn’t been easy, with injuries giving Dominick little fight time over the last few years, having only fought 3 times since 2011. In front of him at the Boston Garden will be TJ Dillashaw, Since Cruz last fought, Dillashaw has became a breakout star of the bantamweight division, defeating the dominant champ at the time, Renan Barão, twice.

This is such a great match up because there are so many unknown factors going into it, Cruz looked great on his return but that was in 2014, it’s a fairly lengthy layoff but when you think his last fight before that was in 2011, it becomes a pretty extreme lay off. His return against Mizugaki, impressive as it was, lasted only one minute and didn’t show us if Cruz still has the unorthodox movement and striking we all know him for.

Both have speed and cardio, Cruz as we all know loves his angles and will throw one shot and hit you on the other side with something totally different, he also has great wrestling both offensive and defensive. Dillashaw has really improved his stand up since training with Duane Ludwig and would seem to have the wrestling to match Cruz as well as likely having the power advantage.

Dillashaw needs to be able to counter the angles and strikes Cruz uses and avoid the takedown that those angles and strikes set up, as well as matching his speed and staying offensive. Keeping this up would be key factors to Dillashaw keeping his belt

Cruz needs to come out, use his angles and keep the pressure on Dillashaw, going for the takedown and seeing how Dillashaw responds on the mat, we saw how aggressive Cruz can be on the ground with his vicious finish against Mizugaki on his last outing.

There are so many factors to this fight, most of which could make for a spectacular title fight, if the Cruz from 2011 comes out, it could be a tough night for Dillashaw. Whether that long lay off has any effect on Cruz has yet to be seen, Dillashaw has looked great recently, has had a lot of cage time and has made massive improvements to his game making him a slight favorite in the betting odds. For the odds to be so close against a fighter coming off of a long lay off shows you the challenge Dillashaw faces.

Main Card
Champ T.J. Dillashaw (135) vs. Dominick Cruz (135) for bantamweight championship
Eddie Alvarez (155.5) vs. Anthony Pettis (155.5)
Travis Browne (238) vs. Matt Mitrione (249)
Ross Pearson (155) vs. Francisco Trinaldo (155.5)
Prelims
Patrick Cote (171) vs. Ben Saunders (170)
Medhi Baghdad (156) vs. Chris Wade (155.5)
Tim Boetsch (206) vs. Ed Herman (204.5)
Maximo Blanco (146) vs. Luke Sanders (145.5)
UFC Fight Pass Prelims
Daron Cruickshank (155) vs. Paul Felder (155.5)
Ilir Latifi (205) vs. Sean O’Connell (205.5)
Kyle Bochniak (145) vs. Charles Rosa (145.5)
Rob Font (135) vs. Joey Gomez (135)
Francimar Barroso (205) vs. Elvis Mutapcic (201)