Dominick “The Dominator”Cruz

Dominick Cruz is a popular American mixed martial artist who competes in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). He currently holds the UFC Bantamweight Championship title and is considered one of the greatest bantamweight fighters of all time. Born on March 9, 1985 in Tucson, Arizona, Cruz began his fighting career at an early age.

Growing up he was fascinated with watching professional wrestling and this led him to begin training for MMA when he was fifteen. After brief stints with various local gyms over the next several years, Cruz eventually joined Alliance MMA in 2006 where he linked up with coaches Eric Del Fierro and Shawn Tompkins as well as fellow UFC fighter Urijah Faber. Over time this team developed into what became known as “The Dominator Team” which included numerous other successful fighters such as Joseph Benavidez and Chad Mendes.
Cruz made his professional debut in 2005 at age 20 after submitting Joe DeRosa via armbar at Reality Cage Combat 4. Overall he had seven fights before being signed by WEC in 2007 where he would go on to win two featherweight championships back-to-back from 2007-2010 over urijah faber . In 2011 WEC merged with UFC and Cruz went on to become their inaugural bantamweight champion after splitting wins against Urijah Faber and Demetrious Johnson respectively . From thereon out , Cruz has gone on to defend that championship 5 times having defeated high level competition like Cody Garbrandt , TJ Dillashaw , Henry Cejudo amongst others . His latest fight saw him reclaiming his belt back from Henry Cejudo at UFC 249 .

Throughout his career Dominick has always been seen as a cerebral fighter utilizing good footwork combined with precise technical striking backed up by high level wrestling pressure to overcome opponents while usually being stronger in later rounds due to superior cardio conditioning honed through hard work outside of competition such as cycling or running marathons every year since 2014 . Off the mats though Dominic keeps himself busy maintaining an active social media presence whilst also doing charity work supporting organizations like CAF America that help disabled athletes pay for medical care among other things

All these accolades have earned Dominick numerous awards some of which include World MMA Awards Fighter Of The Year 2011 & 2016 , Sherdog’s Comeback Fighter Of The Year 2015 along with multiple Fight Of The Night bonuses throughout his career thus cementing his legacy within combat sports history forever making him one of the greats both inside & outside of the cage !