Dominick Cruz Survives Early Knockdown, Puts on Vintage Performance at UFC 269
The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to the T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada once again tonight, December 11, 2021, for UFC 269.
Headlining the card is a UFC lightweight championship bout between our newly crowned champion Charles Oliveira, who faces No. 1 contender and former interim champion Dustin Poirier in the five round main event of the evening.
Co-headlining is UFC women’s bantamweight & featherweight champion Amanda Nunes, who looks to defend her bantamweight title for the sixth time tonight in her return to the division against No. 3 ranked TUF 18 winner Julianna Pena.
Dominick Cruz also returned tonight, coming in ranked at No. 9, as he faced No. 8 ranked Pedro Munhoz in the preliminary co-main event.
Continue reading to see how this epic bantamweight clash went down:
Official Result:
Round 1:
The referee in charge is Marc Goddard. Cruz opening up with his footwork, as predicted. Munhoz swings wild with a left high kick and shaves the head of Cruz. Cruz lands a clean right hand that got Munhoz attention. Cruz is opening up with the calf kicks. Munhoz lands clean on Cruz, he drops to the canvas face first – Cruz is in bad trouble. Munhoz lands clean again – Cruz staggers to thr ground, the former champ composes himself and scrambles back to his feet. Munhoz popping out the jab. Combination lands from Cruz, Munhoz eats it without issue. 10 seconds to go, both men swing wild – Cruz gets the better of them at the end of the round.
Round 2:
Cruz needs a big round two. A one two glaces on the chin of Munhoz. A lot of feints from both men, as expected. Cruz defends a takedown attempt from Munhoz. Both fighters have took a calmer approach in this round. Cruz searching for his combinations and lands a left hand that opens up a cut on Munhoz. Cruz really showing his IQ in this round, making Munhoz miss and landing at will. Cruz teeing off on Munhoz in the middle of the cage! The former champ bounces back from a tough first round perfectly, the bell goes – a huge round for Cruz.
Round 3:
Round three, here we go. Cruz opening up how he did in the previous round. Cruz feints a take-down to give Munhoz more to think about. Cruz puts Munhoz up against the cage and unleashes his combination and hes back to the centre. In and out, in and out. Cruz is making Munhoz miss. A picture perfect one-two lands, Munhoz shakes it off. Cruz steps into range, right, left, right, left and hes gone. A vintage last two rounds from the former champ. Final seconds in the fight, the bell goes – Cruz raises his hands.
Official Result: Dominick Cruz def. Pedro Munhoz via unanimous decision (29-28 x3)
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