In a night which saw many captivating individual performances, including a UFC Heavyweight attacking a referee. There was one unlikely man, in a very unlikely place who stole the show this past weekend in Brasilia.
Enter newly appointed UFC Analyst/Colour Commentator and current UFC Bantamweight Champion, Dominick Cruz. The Twitter-verse quickly erupted, as word quickly spread of the current new play by play analysts work.
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Upon listening to his technical analysis and fight breakdown, it quickly became apparent that Dominick Cruz understood human movement and fighter technique more than the average Joe, and more than most qualified professionals.
There were times that Dominick Cruz was analysing fighter technique at such a pace that it almost became a form of information overload for many fight fans. This man was not only breaking down every fighter technique on display, he was breaking down every second of every fight. Dominick Cruz brought new meaning to the term, “play by play commentary”.
The example I am going to use, is Dominick Cruz’ technical analysis of the Paul Felder vs Francisco Trinaldo fight at UFC Brasília.
For the majority of this fight, Paul Felder had been struggling with takedown defence. His opponent, Francisco Trinaldo was consistently timing his strikes, changing levels and securing takedowns. Dominick Cruz assessed this problem in real time, and offered a possible solution for stopping the takedowns. Specifically citing Felders willingness to be drawn in to a brawl, and mistimed head kick attempts as the primary reasons for consistently being taken down throughout the fight.
“He (Felder) needs to go to the body of Trinaldo to stop being taken down. If he starts head hunting and head kicking, Trinaldo is going to time the takedown on him.”
“So if you (Felder) go to the body, you can at least dig in your under hooks”.
In throwing mistimed head kicks, Paul Felder would lost balance, leaving a significantly higher chance of being taken down. Mistimed head kick attempts can cause a fighter to fall off balance, leaving himself open to takedowns in the process. Trinaldo was doing a great job in avoiding the head kicks, then timing the takedown for the moment Felder lost balance. As Dominic Cruz’ technical analysis suggested, replacing the head kick attempts with fluid body punches would give Felder an increased chance at getting “under hooks” if his opponent shot for a takedown attempt. Felder would stay balanced, which in turn would increase Felders chances at preventing his opponents continuous takedown attempts.
Another aspect of the fight that Dominick Cruz touched on, was the footwork patterns of Francisco Trinaldo. Cruz was visibly impressed by the footwork patterns being used by Trinaldo in this fight. Footwork is a trait in which Cruz himself has long been recognised for. Dominick Cruz is world renowned for having some of the best footwork that Mixed Martial Arts has ever seen. Many fighters have attempted to emulate Dominick Cruz’ footwork in the past, and it appeared that Francisco Trinaldo was one of the few fighters who had been somewhat successful in doing so. The current UFC Champion, turned UFC analyst sounded visibly impressed.
“See how Trinaldo stays on his toes. He’s always hopping, he has a little hop in his step at all times. It’s like a rhythm. It’s how he keeps a good pace, it’s how he keeps relaxed. It’s like jogging to him.
“He just keeps his feet moving. That’s his rhythm. That’s how he hides his strikes, that’s how he hides his explosions”.
“It’s a constant hop. Its a constant rhythm, and then his punches and kicks come out of nowhere, and he can dodge shots easier”.
In effectively utilising his footwork, not only did Trinaldo make it significantly harder for his opponent to strike him, but he also forced his opponent to second guess where his movement, and the direction of which Trinaldos strikes were coming from. The constant change of direction didn’t allow Felder to keep In a comfortable striking range, every strike that Trinaldo threw was coming from a different position and angle.
As Cruz emphasised numerous times, Trinaldo seemed to be very relaxed and in rhythm. The way Trinaldo bounced around the cage almost resembled the current UFC Bantamweight Champ and colour commentator himself. Francisco Trinaldo was metaphorically dancing to the beat of his own song.
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I’ve long been saying, that I personally believe that Dominick Cruz has the highest Fighter I.Q the sport of Mixed Martial Arts has ever seen. Cruz has shown exceptional ability to read and predict fighter movement, patterns and tendencies. There is no better example of this, than his ever elusive stand up fighting style and advanced footwork techniques.
Dominick Cruz has combined his ability to read and predict fighter movement, with the use of effective footwork and constant switching of stances. This in turn, gives us one of the most unique and elusive fighting styles seen in combat sports today.
A boxing centered fight style which the current UFC Bantamweight Champion, turned analyst/colour commentator has previously attributed to studying years of Muhammad Ali tape.
“I’ve been watching Muhammed Ali my entire career, and wanted to pick certain things that made him great”. Cruz told Ariel Helwani in a previous interview with MMAFighting.com.

In this example. Cruz ducks, pivots, then pushes off his outside foot. Effectively avoiding his opponents strikes, whilst moving towards his opponents power hand. Cruz’ head placement during the crouch, throws off his opponents sense of distance, forcing him to throw a short second punch. Making it seem virtually impossible for his opponent to connect with any legitimate force.
This Ali inspired stance gives Dominick Cruz the ability to duck and avoid strikes whilst still having the freedom of full directional movement around the octagon.
Dominick Cruz has also used this ability to read and predict fighter movement to further develop this boxing based fighting style to incorporate takedowns and effective wrestling. Making it a more well rounded and better suited fighting style for Mixed Martial Arts.

In this example, Cruz notices his opponent plant his feet, become stationary and begin to over commit to a right hand. Cruz then uses his footwork, throws a feint and ducks. This time, rather than pushing off his back leg, Cruz pushes off of his front leg and launches in to a perfectly timed level change and double leg takedown. Cruz would later finish this fight via TKO on the ground.
Through his recently introduced analysis on commentary, and his well established technical fighting style. Dominick Cruz has proven to be one of Mixed Martial Arts’ greatest minds, both inside and outside of the octagon. Upon listening to his commentary and in depth break down, the Mixed Martial Arts world has grown a deeper understanding and a greater appreciation for the current UFC Bantamweight Champion.
I believe the world is now beginning to see Dominick Cruz as the technical genius that I have been calling him for the past half decade, and with every future fight card we have the pleasure of hearing him break down, this will become more apparent to the average viewer.
Technical analysis and expertise outside of the cage, coupled with perfected technique and vision inside of the cage. I call that, “The Dominator Effect”.