Faber: Cruz Has Improved, But Was ‘Terrible’ Before

---

It took Urijah Faber less than two minutes to submit Dominick Cruz in their first encounter at WEC 26 four years ago.

Cruz hasn’t lost since, though, en route to becoming the UFC bantamweight champion. With a rematch coming up July 2 at UFC 132, Faber credits his opponent for improving but also suggests he had a long way to go.

“He’s a better fighter, but I think he had a lot more room for improvement back then,” Faber said recently during a “Savage Dog Show” interview on the Sherdog Radio Network. “He was pretty bad. He’s good now, but it’s not like he’s been knocking everyone out. It’s not like he’s been submitting everybody. He’s beat some pretty good guys and a couple of guys that are really good. Although it’s pretty impressive, it’s not that dangerous. The bottom line is, I’m the more dangerous fighter.”

Faber feels his own game has gotten better also. In particular, he sees significant gains made in the striking department as well as with his grappling. Still, he allows that Cruz has perhaps made the bigger strides.

“Have we both improved? Yes,” Faber said, “but he just came from really being terrible.”

Now Cruz has a style that makes his opponents look terrible. He’s known for his footwork, his elusiveness on the feet and his volume punching.

“He gives himself a lot of credit for that and I give him credit for it as well,” Faber said. “The guy’s hard to hit and he also throws a ton of punches. … His percentage of connecting is pretty low, but he throws so many that he’s pretty effective with them.”

Fighters who throw a lot of punches might not pack much power, though. Faber has his suspicions about how heavy Cruz’s hands are.

“You don’t really know until you get in there and get right in front of him,” Faber said. “Is he throwing heaters in there? Some of those punches look like they’re pretty heavy, but not too many of them.”

With a significant speed advantage over previous foes, Cruz hasn’t had to focus on throwing knockout punches. He’s been able to win fights by scoring points and absorbing little damage, but Faber isn’t so sure Cruz will be the faster man in the Octagon when they meet for the second time.

“Is he going to be way faster than I am like he thinks he is? I don’t think that’s the case,” Faber said. “I’m really hard to hit. If you look at my stats, I’m a difficult guy to touch, especially at this weight class. I’m faster, and [it’s a better fit] for my body. I think he’s going to be surprised how hard it is to hit me.”

Listen to the full interview (beginning at 1:30:00).