Dominick Cruz unfolds his plans after taking retirement from MMA – “I’m currently in a teach and heal phase.”

Dominick Cruz, one of the greatest bantamweight fighters of all time, reveals his future taking retirement from MMA. He has been celebrated as the finest technician inside the octagon, and now, he’s all set to explore various opportunities outside the UFC cage. 

Dominick Cruz is set to launch the “Cruise With Me Podcast” alongside UFC commentary. 

Other than being an exceptional athlete, Dominick Cruz is also a great orator, so podcasting was always a fitting avenue for the “Dominator.” He is already an established commentator and analyst, therefore, him interviewing other fighters and interesting guests would provide more insightful value into MMA content creation. 

In an interview with former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping on Believe You Me Podcast, Dominick Cruz expressed his desire to contribute back to the martial arts community that has shaped his entire life and molded him into the person that he is right now. 

“That’s part of the reason why I’m stopping now. Some people say, Oh, all this, you’re talking about it being impossible, and here you are stopping. Well, I mean, you got to stop eventually, right? Age is real. And so, with my age and the injury, it’s different than when I was younger trying to do it with the injury. So, yeah, the Cruise With Me podcast. Give back. First, you fight, then you teach, then you heal. That’s the martial arts way.”

Cruz also emphasized on the current situation of his journey. His days as a fighter are over, but he’s a lifelong martial artist who still wants to be involved somehow. So, Cruz is taking the analyst route more seriously than before. He beautifully expressed his feelings by using only three words – “fighting, teaching, and healing.” After getting done with the fighting phase, he’s focusing on the teaching and healing phase. 

However, it is not the only reason why he wants to continue being an analyst. According to Cruz, he noticed that other commentators and analysts often made mistakes while calling his fights because they didn’t have an idea what he was doing inside the octagon. That inspired him to take his job as an analyst more seriously to help the prospects understand the sport better. 

“I feel like I’m in the teach-and-heal phase of my martial arts career. It doesn’t just end. And teach and heal means that’s what I’m doing with the analyst. I take it very seriously because I’ve been that guy on the other side that the commentators are talking about. And I’m not trying to hate, but sometimes they don’t know what I’m doing. And it’s like you just go back and watch a little bit of film, maybe you would know. So that inspired me to want to go back and do that for the up-and-coming athletes.”

“So I try to do my best to give back to the athlete. That’s another way of giving. I think that it’s like having a big eclipse in front of the sun, where you see the sun poking out, but it’s covered. Fighting has been covering. Fighting has been blocking out whatever for extra other extracurricular activities I could be doing, I want to be doing.” – Cruz added. 

Dominick Cruz says “Sorry” to Rob Font after pulling out from UFC Fight Night 251 in Seattle. 

Dominick Cruz was scheduled to fight Rob Font at UFC Fight Night 252 on February 22 in Seattle. The event is headlined by former two-division champion Henry Cejudo against a fan favorite Song Yadong, fighting to stay relevant in the bantamweight title conversation. 

Cruz wanted to fight in Seattle as his farewell fight but pulled out due to the grueling shoulder injury, which eventually became the reason for his retirement. In the same interview with Michael Bisping, Cruz apologized to his opponent and wished him well. 

“I think going live and just going cr*y and doing tournaments and stuff is going to be out the window because the shoulder is coming out in practice. I can’t really probably compete with it anymore, but I could still train, teach, and give back to the sport. So that’s what made me halt it. And sorry, Rob Font, because I hate to do that to him on three weeks notice or whatever, too. It’s not You know as an opponent that no true fighter wants to pull out and do that.”

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