Dominick Cruz reflects on Urijah Faber rivalry post-UFC 199

Going into UFC 199, there was certainly no love lost between Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber. For nearly 10 years the pair had engaged in a bitter rivalry after Faber submitted Cruz back in 2007 under the WEC banner.

Cruz avenged the loss in the UFC, defeating Faber via unanimous decision, however that wasn’t enough to put an end to the rivalry. In the co-main event of UFC 199, the pair finally competed in a trilogy fight, which Cruz won in convincing fashion.

Following the fight, he spoke on The MMA Hour to discuss the rivalry:

“I’ve said it in all the interviews before that I didn’t have to beat Faber because he’s already been beating himself for years. I think that he’s an extremely good fighter and I think in any scenario, he’s still top 3 in the division even with how the division’s lined up now.

“He’s one of the best in the world at this weight class,” he continued. “He doesn’t lose three-round fights and he’s good. I knew he was talented, but I know that his ego and the fact that he’s unwilling to face the things that have lost him those eight fights before this last fight that I fought him. He’s unwilling to face, he’s unwilling to take responsibility for the reasons he lost. All you hear are the things he did right in those fights and survived in those fights rather than what he could’ve done better and give kudos to the people that beat him.

“His own ego won’t allow him to do that. He’s a positive thinker and as a positive thinker, I understand that. But at a certain extent, you can’t lie to yourself just to be positive. I felt like his ego won’t allow him to tell the truth to himself. He’ll always make up an excuse. He’ll always say why he’s better than that if he fought again next time, how he got lucky, how his thumb was up when he’s knocked out. You’re not really admitting your loss, which means you’re not really learning from it. If you don’t learn from your losses, you can’t grow. It’s hard to grow if you’re not learning.”

Video | Urijah Faber

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