Dominick Cruz Breaks Down Cormier vs. Gustafsson

Former UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz is scheduled to make his long overdue return to the octagon to face current champ TJ Dillashaw at UFC Fight Night 81, is also a respected analyst, working on UFC on FOX.

Cruz put on his analyst hat during a recent stop by MMAJunkie Radio and gave an in-depth breakdown of what each fighter in this weekends main event at UFC 192 have to do to win.

UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier will look to defend his belt against Alexander Gustafsson a fight scheduled for five rounds.

Cruz had this to say about what Cormier needs to do win:

“(Cormier has) got to close range – we know that, and he’s got to look for underhooks and look for the wrestling. He’s talking about Alex being tall, and how much easier it is for him to take him down.

“Well, to an extent, that’s right. D.C.’s favorite move is that single leg. He landed it on Jon Jones. If he can hit it on Jon Jones the same way on Alex, Alex is going to have a long night.

“Because D.C. really only has to take down Alex one time and D.C.’s go-to is riding people out. We saw him do it against Anthony Johnson; we saw him to it to (Pat) Cummins. If he can do it to them, he can definitely hold down an Alexander Gustafsson, and that’s what’s really going to make the difference in the fight for D.C. He needs to take him down and keep him there. The good thing is, everything that Alex does kind of gives that single-leg up.”

And then what Gustafsson should do to take the belt:

“He needs to stay on his bike and do what he’s always done. Use lateral movement and angles and footwork to use his jab and his movement. The second he stays still, the bigger problem it’s going to be.

“What happens to a lot of strikers vs. wrestlers is they end up backing up the whole time instead of moving forward to keep the jab in their face. It’s imperative that Alex move forward. If D.C. keeps moving forward, he gets stronger and gets better, and the pressure he puts on Alex will wear Alex down.

“Alex can move forward with that jab as long as he lines up that lead leg up with the right leg of Cormier. When he does that, it lands the uppercut right up the middle for Daniel, and if Daniel decides to shoot, Alex has got an angle still so he’s not directly in front of Daniel. He’s naturally lined up, so any time D.C. puts his head down, he’s lined up for a power uppercut, and any time he decides to shoot, he can cut the angle.”