THE CANADIAN PRESS
Winning the championship belt was a start rather than the end for Dominick Cruz.
The 25-year-old from San Diego says he has not taken any shortcuts since claiming the WEC bantamweight title from Brian Bowles in March. His no-frills lifestyle hasn’t got any fancier or his workouts any easier.
Cruz, who once famously said "Top Ramen (noodles) and sandwich meat is good for me," says he is still living frugally.
"Anyone who really knows me will agree with that," Cruz said. "I live pretty much just to train, man. That’s how I live. Because I feel every single day that I have, if I don’t spend it trying to become a better fighter than that’s it, somebody else is going to do that. And then they’re going to surpass me.
"So I kind of just stay focused, in my zone and in my little world, and train train train. I’m just always trying to improve."
Cruz (15-1) makes the first defence of his 135-pound title on Aug. 18 against Joseph Benavidez in Las Vegas at WEC 50. Cruz won by unanimous decision the first time they met, at WEC 42 in August 2009.
Benavidez (12-1) is coming off a surprisingly one-sided submission win over former champion Miguel Angel Torres on the same WEC 47 card that saw Cruz take down the man who dethroned Torres.
A Benavidez win would mark the third straight fight that the 135-pound title has changed hands.
Cruz has won six straight as a bantamweight since losing his WEC debut to featherweight star Urijah Faber back in March 2007 at WEC 26.
Asked if he is getting his due, Cruz doesn’t much care.
"Respect is all about what other people’s opinions are. And if I’d been listening to other people’s opinions since Day 1, I probably wouldn’t be here because everybody told me I wasn’t good enough since the beginning.
"To be honest I don’t really care what people think. My job is just to keep my brain in it and stay confident in me. I think as I keep winning, the respect will come on its own and I’m not real worried about it. People can respect me if they want. But if they don’t want to, that’s their prerogative."
Cruz certainly got Bowles’ attention, befuddling him with his speed and counter-punching, zipping in and out to do damage.
After the fight, Cruz spent eight weeks with his hand in a cast because of a torn tendon and doctors wanted him to take more time off.
"But I didn’t have more time," Cruz said. "So I went ahead and saw a doctor that (UFC president) Dana White had hooked me up with and the hand specialist fixed my hand up to the extent that where it feels better, well enough to fight.
"They recommended I wait a little longer but I just wanted to go ahead and get this fight under my belt and defend the title as soon as possible."
Cruz hurt the hand in the middle of the second round. Bowles, his own hand broken, didn’t answer the bell for the third round.
The belt was his, although Cruz makes it sound like it is little more than a bauble.
"I live every single day in the fact that I have nothing, I own nothing. I’m working for everything I want," Cruz said.
"So that being said, I never skip a beat in training and I never lose anything because I don’t have anything to lose. I’m just training to be the best I can and stay on top as long as I can. The title really means nothing, the belt really means nothing. All that matters is this is another fight. Whether it’s for a title or not, it’s still just another opponent in the ring, another human being that I need to get through in order to get to the next step of my career."
Benavidez represents the first rematch for Cruz, who takes satisfaction that "I did everything right the first time that I could.
"I’ve improved since then. He’s improved since then. But I was better than him, at that point and I believe I’m better than him still."
