Courtesy of a torn ACL, Dominick Cruz’s (Pictured) status for UFC 148 has already been determined. However, the reigning bantamweight champ’s post as coach on “The Ultimate Fighter: Live” is still in limbo.
As far as Cruz’s team is concerned, swapping out their commander during this stage of the lightweight tourney would not go over too well.
“I’ll tell you what, they’re going to have eight guys who are pretty upset if they try to change our coach,” Justin Lawrence stated during Tuesday’s conference call. “It’s already been nine weeks, we’ve kind of made a bond with the coaching staff already and they’re kind of like family.
“It makes me want to win this tournament even more, for him. I really want to put him on my back and get him a W and try to beat [Urijah] Faber.”
Lawrence meets Mike Chiesa in the quarterfinals. His teammate, James Vick, who squares off against Joe Proctor, echoed the same sentiment.
“As far as him staying and coaching, there’s no way we want anybody else but him,” Vick shared. “He’s been here for 10 weeks now and he’s a great coach. It’s a great coaching staff. We’re getting close to him like family almost and there’s no way that I would want anybody else but him to coach us.”
The UFC hasn’t determined whether they will replace Cruz or allow him to finish coaching the season. An announcement regarding the fate of the red squad’s fearless leader is expected to be made within the next couple of days.
Regardless, Team Cruz has spoken and they intend to win one for the Gipper.
Catch Friday’s episode of ‘TUF: Live’ on FX at 10PM ET (7PM PT satellite).
Original Story:
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May 07, 2012
