No bitterness

I've just arrived at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas ahead of my main event fight at UFC 132. I defend my UFC bantamweight title against the No. 1 contender Urijah Faber in the first ever bantamweight fight to headline a UFC pay-per-view. It is going to be seen in over 140 countries worldwide and is a massive opportunity for me... but there's a lot to do between now and Saturday night.

I'm doing this blog in my suite at the MGM. This is the first suite I've ever seen, much less actually stayed in, and it is literally four times as big as the place I live. All UFC fighters stay in the host hotel from Tuesday of fight week onwards, and usually I've been in a normal twin room which I share with at least one member of my camp. And because a fighter needs to sweat to lose weight, that means no air conditioning and no open windows... and by the end of the week the rooms get real smelly.

Right now I am sharing the suite with Adam (The Mormon) Lynch and he's very happy to have his own room in the suite right now. We call him the Mormon because when he first came to the gym he showed up dressed like a kid who just jumped off his bicycle and was there to sell us a bunch of Bibles. Now the Mormon has plenty of room to ride his bicycle all day long in this awesome suite.

Wednesday was due to be a vicious day for me. I've got nothing but interviews, media, photoshoots and training from 9 a.m. until about 6 p.m. PT. A lot of fighters cut weight by hitting the sauna but I actually try very, very hard not to use it at all to get down to 135 pounds. I'd rather work out hard.

To me, I feel weaker physically and mentally just sitting there leaking water. I'd rather the mental challenge of working out and making myself lose the weight that way, I feel I earned and suffered my way to fighting weight.

My philosophy in life, the way I was brought up, has always been jealousy eats you up and bitterness holds you back. I'm a positive person, someone who always took the opportunity to work towards my goals. That's why I feel I have to say something about what my opponent has been doing, trying to paint me as a negative, jealous guy who is obsessed with him.

First off, Urijah can take himself off that great pedestal. I'm not jealous of him -- I'm the one with the belt.

Listen, I am not a robot. My emotions have spilled over a couple of times about this fight. Ever since I lost to Faber four years ago, it has been brought up to me in almost every single interview. Even before Faber moved down to bantamweight from featherweight, even hours after I won the world title, I was asked about Faber.

Of course I am looking forward to putting an end to that and getting my win back, who wouldn't in a similar situation?

If Faber and I were two doctors, or two policemen or whatever else, we would still dislike each other. We are just two different types of people and we'd never have got along no matter if we were competitors in a sport or not. Doesn't make me right and him wrong and it doesn't make either of us a negative or positive person. It just means we are different people.

What I feel with the situation with Faber is that he is trying to paint himself as this happy-go-lucky guy, always so positive and smiling, who never talks crap or has a negative emotion. And he's just a salesman. Behind the scenes, whenever he's out of public view or there are no cameras or fans about, he's talking crap about me all the time.

But all the talking stops this Saturday.

Hit me up on Twitter at @TheDomin8r and Facebook me.

Dominick Cruz will defend his bantamweight belt against Urijah Faber at UFC 132 on Saturday, July 2 in Las Vegas. He will blog this week and next for sportsnet.ca ahead of his fight.

UFC 132 will be shown live on pay-per-view at 6 p.m. PT / 9 p.m. ET. Watch t live preliminary fights on Sportsnet starting at 5 p.m. PT / 8 p.m. ET.