UFC San Diego ended up being a pretty fun event and the crowd made it feel even bigger. It was all building up to what was a huge fight in the bantamweight division. We were going to get the first domino to fall in what is going to be a long series of them over the next few months. The main event lived up to the hype and the fans made it feel even bigger. Both Dominick Cruz and Chito Vera had huge fan bases in attendance as both come from Hispanic backgrounds and there was obviously a large Hispanic representation there. Cruz was also born in San Diego, so there was a nice buzz in the arena for both that honestly made it feel like a big PPV fight. Then the fight itself was extremely interesting and ended with a Vera left high kick that landed right on Cruz's nose as he was dipping his head down. Cruz somehow didn't go out completely and a few follow up shots later, Vera had the biggest win of his career. I didn't want to say too much in the update to my picks and betting post because I had a lot to say here, so let's start breaking this down.
I thought Chito Vera largely did what he does. There wasn't anything too surprising from him, which is both good and bad, depending on how you want to look at it. Chito does a lot of things that make me nervous for his long term success against top 5 opponents, but it has worked out for him to this point. He starts very slow, so he has a tendency to fall behind on the scorecards, but he comes on late as his cardio is in a great place. Chito is starting to become one of those guys who just doesn't operate by the same rules as everyone else because he finds finishes so consistently. Overall, knockouts happen less frequently in the smaller divisions, but Chito's power is clearly significant and allows him to consistently finish fights. His kicks have really been a huge part of his game recently as he finished both Cruz and Frankie Edgar with them and he started the finishing sequence against Sean O'Malley with a kick as well. Chito has a lot of skills that could be a real problem for anyone in the top 10, but I do wish he used them a little bit better. I think with a few small adjustments, Chito could be a very real threat to the title. He already is a real threat, but he still has room for growth in my opinion. With that said, he still did a lot of good things and in hindsight, I don't think it was the worst game plan in the world. He was down on the cards, but it looked like Chito knew he could hurt Dom whenever he touched him. Chito stayed calm and measured and when he landed, he was landing hard and Dom was going down consistently. After the second knockdown, it did kind of start to feel like it was only a matter of time before Dom wasn't going to bounce back up and a kick like that would put almost anyone out. I thought this was a pretty good vintage Chito performance all things considered. I would just like to see his game continue to grow to a point where he becomes more processed and can more consistently win rounds without relying on just big moments and finishes. I believe Chito has the ability to do those things, which is why I bring it up. If I thought just sitting back and waiting for finishes was the best Chito could be, I wouldn't talk about it as much, but Chito has the striking ability and cardio to fight in a way that allows him to win minutes and rounds much more consistently.
It's kind of hard to pinpoint exactly what will be next for Chito because he was the first guy to pick up a win. We are about to go on a run of really big bantamweight fights over the next few months. We have Merab Dvalishvili vs Jose Aldo this coming weekend, Cory Sandhagen vs Song Yadong a couple of weeks after, and then Petr Yan vs Sean O'Malley and Aljamain Sterling vs TJ Dillashaw in October. There is also the potential Henry Cejudo return out there, but who knows what is going on with that right now. At this point, Chito is pretty much guaranteed to get one of the winners, it is just a matter of how it all shakes out. I honestly don't think it is out of the question for Chito to even get the title shot next. If we see Merab, Sandhagen, Yan, and Aljo win, I think Chito may get the title shot. Aljo said he won't fight Merab, while Yan and Sandhagen have both lost to Aljo in the recent past. That may be the perfect storm for Henry to slide in and fight for the title, but the UFC doesn't seem super eager to give him that opportunity, so I don't see why it couldn't be Chito. A few upsets in those fights could really throw make this division interesting though. If we see Song or O'Malley win, then all of the sudden the division is really shaken up and we could see some interesting matchups present themselves. Just based on style matchups, I think the fight I would want to see most for Chito is Petr Yan. They do a lot of the same things and want to fight in a similar way, so I think that would be pretty fun to see play out. It's impossible to say who exactly he should fight until we see these other matchups, but Chito is in line for a really big fight with an outside chance at stepping into a title fight.
When it comes to Dominick Cruz, it was kind of an unfortunate fight to watch. On one hand, I don't really think Dom could or should have really fought any differently, but at the same time, he was getting hurt somewhat consistently. Dom was really doing exactly what he needed to do. He was landing strikes, mixing in takedowns, and largely avoiding damage. The problem is that basically every time Chito was landing, it was hurting Dom. I don't want to say Dom is done because he didn't look cooked or even bad, he just isn't taking damage the same way he used to. Now, Chito Vera and Pedro Munhoz are pretty powerful for 135, so there is something to be said there, but it was still a worrisome sight, at least for Dom's title chances. Besides his chin, I think everything else looked to be in order. His movement looked good, he was striking aggressively and landing some solid shots, and even had some wrestling success. We were about to see in what kind of shape his cardio was and he looked to be slowing slightly, but he seemed to still be in a good spot. Chito was able to perfectly time the left kick as Cruz ducked down and that has nothing to do with Dom's chin. He just got blasted directly in the face and seemed to badly break his nose as well. Hopefully he's doing ok and everything is all good on the health front for him because that was pretty scary.
First things first, I think Cruz needs to take some time to recover. He's not a particularly active fighter at this point in his career anyways, but some time to make sure everything is ok after a head kick like that would be for the best. He also has to wait for his nose to heal, of course. After that, Cruz has to make a decision on what exactly he wants to do with the rest of his career. Dom is now 37 years old and while he could have one more run in him, those late career title runs are a lot more difficult at the lower weight classes. It's a tough decision because offensively, Cruz looked as he as had in awhile in this fight. It's just his chin wasn't reacting the way he needed it to or the way he would need it to against opponents like Yan and Sandhagen. Only Dom knows whether there was something else that was effecting his durability or if age is finally catching up with him. Dominick Cruz doesn't strike me as the kind of guy who really has any interest in just hanging around and putting on random fights either. If Dom doesn't think he can get to a title shot, then I think he probably just walks away. With that said, I think there are a few fights left for Dom if he wants to get in another fight or two before calling it a career. If he does just want to get back on the horse, the losers of those matchups I listed before will make sense, if he can get one depending on when exactly he will be able to return to action. It almost goes without saying that a matchup with Jose Aldo would be fantastic. That would probably require Aldo to lose to Merab, but I think that's a fight that everyone would want to see if given the opportunity. If he's just going to fight one or two more times and then hang it up, there's matchups for that as well. It doesn't seem like Urijah Faber has completely ruled out fighting again and I don't think there would be a better way for him to go out than against his old rival. I think they could make that fight in California and have it as sort of a send off for the both of them and it would be kind of cool. Faber is 43 now, but every interview I see, he won't rule out fighting again, so maybe he has a matchup in mind that he would come back for and I imagine that would be one of them. I think the very realistic option in this category would be Frankie Edgar. Edgar, I think, said he wants one more fight before retiring and doing so against Cruz would just make sense. I hate when they feed the old guys to a young killer on the way out, so letting Frankie go out fighting someone from his own era on his own level would just be a solid way for him to hang it up. I don't know if Cruz is the kind of guy who would really want a "retirement fight", but I personally like when fighters get to have their moment with all of the fans behind them giving them a proper ovation. I feel like having that moment for Dom and Frankie in front of fans would be a great moment for two legitimate legends of the sport.
What do you guys think? What did you think of the fight? Did anything surprise you? Who do you want to see Chito fight next? What do you think is the next step for Dominick Cruz? Leave any and all thoughts in the comments. Thanks for reading and have a good one.
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