Dominick Cruz has admitted that he’s relieved to have finally put an end to his long-running feud with Urijah Faber after the two buried the hatched following ‘The California Kid’s’ retirement fight at UFC On FOX 22 this past Saturday night in Sacremento.
“To be perfectly honest, the guy started this sport in the lighter weight class,” Cruz said of his biggest rival in a new interview with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour. “When I first started this thing, there was only 155-pounders and up. And because he had a good following in Sacramento, that whole town got behind him, he was able to get people to show up to the shows and be able to make a run for the lighter weight classes. Without him, without a star, an early star in the early days in this sport, the lighter weight classes might not have been made. That’s the truth.”
The two stars delivered a classic trilogy over the years, with Faber winning their first fight while still in the WEC, while Cruz would rebound to win their other two title encounters while in the UFC, and looking back, ‘The Dominator’ is well aware of how much their battles have helped get him to where he is today
“I’m appreciative for Urijah Faber. I’m appreciative for the rivalry. I’m appreciative for the fights that I have with that man. I’m going to look back in time and be glad that we fought like we did and said the things that we did about each other, and I’m happy for his future. And that whole thing with me and him is completely buried. Like, I couldn’t be happier that chapter of my life is done, and I wish him nothing but the best.”
