Former UFC Bantamweight Champion Dominick Cruz hasn’t competed since losing the title to Cody Garbrandt at UFC 207.
Eric Del Fierro, who is Cruz’s longtime coach, says the fighter is in a good place right now.
“It’s no different than dealing with Dominick after a win,” Del Fierro told MMA Fighting. “You go back and you look at what went great, and you look at what went wrong. We do that when we win, as well. This sport is evolving everyday, and we knew this was going to be a tough fight — there’s no such thing as Dominick having an easy fight, period. Win or lose, he knows what he needs to do. He knows what little mistakes to work on, and what Cody shined on. At this point, it’s just sitting back and making the right decision on when he wants to fight again.”
Cruz defended the title once before losing it, which was a win in the rubber match against Urijah Faber. Coach Fierro believes if Cruz makes the right adjustments, the title will be back around his waist.
“I’ve been blessed in the sense that he’s been with me for so long,” he said. “I know when everything is 100 percent perfect, and I know when certain things are missing, or when things weren’t executed, due to him or due to Cody. It just didn’t work out the right way. He knows it and I know it, and you just go back and make adjustments. It’s no different if he had won the fight. We would still make the adjustments, and we’d figure out what went right and what went wrong.”
The former champ has been doing color commentary for UFC events as well, most recently handling commentary duties at UFC 209.
