Urijah Faber sympathizes with Dominick Cruz on UFC 249 stoppage: ‘He still could have had a chance’
Urijah Faber says Keith Peterson shouldn’t have stopped the UFC 249 fight between Henry Cejudo and Dominick Cruz when he did.
In the co-main event, Faber’s old rival in Cruz was making his return after three and a half years away from the Octagon where he was looking to reclaim his bantamweight title against Cejudo. Yet, that didn’t happen as late in the second round, “Triple C” landed a perfectly timed knee that dropped Cruz and he finished him off via ground and pound just two seconds left in the round.
Immediately, Cruz complained about the stoppage and later said Peterson smelled like alcohol and cigarettes in the cage. For Faber, he says he doubts that part is true but does think the stoppage was early.
“The referees are in there to do their jobs and save guys from taking too much damage,” Faber said backstage at UFC on ESPN 8. “But, at the end of the day, especially in world championship fights when you’re dealing with guys that are future Hall of Famers and multiple-time world champions, we want to remove all doubt. We want to know like I had no more chance so I feel for him on that.
“I feel like he still could have had a chance and that’s always the part that irks you, so I can understand his frustration. I doubt Keith Peterson was drunk. He might have been sweating some alcohol and definitely smelling like cigarettes but I don’t think he was drunk. He was just trying to look out for Dom.”
Following the loss, many have wondered if we will see Dominick Cruz fight again and who he will compete against is a big question mark.
For now, Cruz is still getting over the controversial loss. For Faber, he hasn’t officially retired but whether he fights again is also unknown.
