UFC Fight Night 81: Dillashaw vs. Cruz Discussion Thread

The fighters are weighed in and we're set for an awesome Sunday night of fights on FS1. 

Prelims kick off on UFC Fight Pass around 6pm ET before switching to FS1 for the remainder of the show. 

Lots of quality match-ups on display here.

Enjoy!

The strikes thrown per round
R1
Cruz - 62
Dillashaw - 87

R2
Cruz - 52
Dillashaw - 79

R3
Cruz - 54
Dillashaw - 77

R4
Cruz - 58
Dillashaw - 70

R5
Cruz - 76
Dillashaw - 95

Yeah, running and many single digit counts.

* Edited at 01.18.2016, 3:35 PM ET *

Strikes were thrown only because TJ  came forward, if he stood there nobody would've done ****

If TJ Dillashaw was never born, Cruz/Dillashaw wouldn't have been possible last night. Let's keep going with these hypothetical's. I like it.

Counterstrikers plan to throw punches when somebody comes forward at them? Never heard that one before.

Also, Cruz has never had a round where he landed in the single digits of strikes in his entire UFC/WEC career.

* Edited at 01.18.2016, 5:52 PM ET *

Matt Mitrione Verified account ‏@mattmitrione

Getting my eyelid drained this morning. Was not awesome.

@skelliher

Cruz wasn't running but can we really say he was fighting? I understand that a patient fighter waits for opportunity but ffs, at some point you have to take a chance. Cruz never risked opening himself up in the fight--in order to actually *make* it a fight--and hence there's no way he can justify wearing the belt.

Maybe it was just an off night but Dominick Cruz simply wasn't game. He fought like I'd fight in a street fight that I was engaged in involuntarily. I'd win, yes, but spectators wouldn't really get what they came for.

Cruz didn't wait around for opportunities to counter. He landed just as much as TJ but dodged twice as many strikes. He also notched three more takedowns than TJ did. Saying he didn't fight is frankly ridiculous.

Also, claiming the fans didn't get what they came for is ridiculous. Speak for yourself. The fight won Fight of the Night, was met with universal acclaim on social media, did a huge rating that grew throughout the main event, beaten on FS1 only by McGregor's last fight there, and received a standing ovation from the 12,000 in attendance.

* Edited at 01.19.2016, 5:13 PM ET *

It's kind of funny. The whole time T.J. was with Team Alpha Male, he was making improvements and becoming a more and more complete fighter with each fight. He switches camps completely, and he was flat footed, swinging and missing, and got taken down for the first time in his career which ultimately lost him the decision. That's just karma biting him in the ass for turning his back on the team and the man who got him in the UFC, got him on TUF, and got him the title shot that he really didn't deserve or earn in the first place. That's karma in a nutshell. 

Dominick Cruz is a whole other story for critique. Dancing around, tip-tapping, and landing a few takedowns does not mean he won the fight, and according to the Computer-strike numbers, Dillishaw landed more strikes, so by that he really didn't out point Dillishaw either. When it comes to Championship fights, you have to clearly and decisively BEAT the champion to win a decision, (I.e. Ali/Frazier I, Spinks/Holmes I, Velasquez/Dos Santos II, Coututure/Sylvia just to name a few examples). Dillishaw was the champion and Cruz DID NOT decisively beat the champion. Cruz was awarded the decision, but he didn't win nor beat the champ. Some may disagree with me, but there is a huge difference between beating your opponent and just getting a judges nod. 

I'm not saying Dillishaw won either. Honestly, I thought it was a draw. The 3rd round could've went either way, and IMHO should've been scored a 10-10 round, with rounds 1 & 2 swinging in Cruz's favor, and rounds 4 & 5 going in Dillishaw's which should've made the fight a draw. With that said though, Cruz still won, it wasn't the worst I've ever seen, and there should be and more than likely will be an immediate rematch. Hopefully the rematch will have a more decisive ending.

You know something weird's going on when OJW makes more sense and has a better view of a fight then a lot of people.

Maybe OJW remembered to take his meds.

@skelliher

That's the best you got? You're not going to win this one so what say we call it a truce before you go into "dodge and parry" mode like your boy Cruz?

There's no "winning" a matter of opinion, although insisting it wasn't a fight before someone posted a picture of Dillashaw's cut, bruised, swollen face is losing at Logic 101.

@jaykool777

TJ really didn't look bad to me. In fact, I admire him more than ever after this fight. Cruz clearly ran a strategy to try and frustrate TJ and cause him to make a mistake. This didn't happen. TJ brings some serious mental toughness to the cage along with supreme skills. I never expected this.

Anyone would get a little flat-footed after pursuing such an elusive opponent for 25 minutes, it's natural. As for the situation with his training camp, I honestly didn't know he left team Alpha Male. It would be interesting to know his reasons for that.

The numbers are in and the show averaged 2.29M avg viewers, which is the second-highest UFC event ever on FS1. 

In fact, it's close to the numbers they average on big FOX. 

Impressive.

good night for Cruz to show his skills, I think this kind of fight its better accepted by boxing fans who havent made the full jump to MMA.

is still funny how people think Cruz wasn´t fighting and only ran. they say TJ outlanded Cruz so TJ "did fought"... 3 ****en strikes  TJ landed 3 more strikes!.  I guess Dos Santos didn´t fought Cain the 2nd and 3rd time because he was vastley outstruck, that must mean Cigano just ran and got punched in the face huh?

also its funny how peoiple choose to not say anything about the fact that 89% of strikes Cruz landed was to the head vs  only 58% of TJ´s strikes were to the head.  and had Cruz landing 4 takedowns, I guess some people confuse MMA with olympic boxing and think that if the golve touches his opponent the attacking fighter gets a  point.

a great MMA fight was taking place while you were watching olympic boxing guys, what a shame.

* Edited at 01.20.2016, 2:37 PM ET *

@legacyofmisfortune

Statistics are for fools. Cruz's strategy, which I believe he adopted very early in the fight, prevented any meaningful engagement between he and Dillishaw. This is the manner in which someone fights *when they're fearful of being exposed*. Anyone can massage the data post facto to speak in their favor but it makes no difference when the fight we showed up to see never happened. 

It's interesting to me how carefully people are choosing their words when they refer to this fight and particularly Cruz's *brilliant* performance. Did I just say "performance"? "Show" us your skills, Dominick!

Cognitive. Dissonance. Theory.

@StealingFire:

FOTN bonus

Standing ovation