Dominick Cruz explains why he had to take Cody Garbrandt fight despite being a ‘wreck’ at UFC 207

Dominick Cruz took Cody Garbrandt fight because of pay-per-view points with Ronda Rousey

Cruz vs. Garbrandt served as the co-main event to Ronda Rousey’s comeback fight against Amanda Nunes at UFC 207.

Before the headliner Rousey lost via standing TKO, Cruz was outgunned by the super quick and heavy-handed Garbrandt across five rounds of action.

Garbrandt dropped Cruz twice en route to a unanimous decision win.

“I was a wreck,” Cruz said of his condition in the Garbrandt fight on The Casuals MMA Podcast.

“Like, one thing that’s impressive about Merab [Dvalishvili] is he’s had four fights. He’ll do his fourth [title] fight in a calendar year [in December],” Cruz added.

“And it’s the camps that beat you up…

“I came off of a three and a half year layoff and then fought TJ [Dillashaw]. My feet and my body wasn’t ready for that level of training. Like, that many kicks, that much footwork. I’d come from three and a half years just fixing and rehabbing stuff. So when I fought him, I got tendinitis just starting in my left foot.

“And then when I get to the Faber fight, now I’ve got it in both feet. And then by the time I get to the Cody fight, that was before my first shoulder surgery. I had a torn labrum and I had some torn stuff in my shoulder, plus both my feet were now completely incapacitated.

“I’m not on my toes. I didn’t jump rope the entire camp. I wore shoes the entire camp. I couldn’t even do anything barefoot. So my footwork was not something that I could do at all. And I just said I always focus on that before and after.

“Well, that whole part of the game was out. Like, I was literally coming out of bed and I’d have a hot thing, and I’d put my feet in it with Epsom salt, and I’d have to soak them for twenty minutes before I’d even get out of bed and set my feet on the ground because the pain was so bad…

Cruz had both of his ankles taped up for his fight against Garbrandt.

“I just was in such bad shape, but I had to take that fight,” Cruz explained.

“I normally would not have taken that fight, but Ronda Rousey was on the card,” said Cruz.

“And at this time, [there was] pay-per-view points.

“I lost pay-per-view points with Faber. I was supposed to fight Faber with the Chael Sonnen vs. Anderson Silva [card] and I pulled out of that fight for my knee. And that was gonna be after ‘The Ultimate Fighter’, so I disappointed Dana. They put all that time into me on ‘TUF’ and then I had to pull out on two weeks. That will make Dana hate your guts. I can’t blame him.

“With this fight, I just did the best I could with what I had. I couldn’t lose the opportunity to make that paycheck. So you show up.

“We show up injured to fights, but I was pretty beat up in this one.

“That’s why I like rematches too though because you can get new circumstances now. Look at where Cody’s at. Look at what he’s been through. It’s a different fight if we fight now. Now he’s the one beat up,” Cruz said of Garbrandt.

Cody Garbrandt is 3-7 since fighting Dominick Cruz

Garbrandt put on one of the best performances in UFC title fight history when he fought Cruz.

Since then, Garbrandt has lost more fights than he’s won.

Garbrandt suffered three KO losses in a row starting with TJ Dillashaw in 2017.

Garbrandt is currently on a two-fight losing skid to former champ Deiveson Figueiredo and Raoni Barcelos.

‘No Love’ is 3-7 since his title win over Cruz.