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Falling from the throne

I am actually not a Dominic Cruz fan.  I am not really sure why.  I have never met the guy but I just don't like him.  Maybe its because of the Lloyd Irvin connection.  Or just seeing him out in DC and how cocky he was.  That's most fighters though.  

When he went through all the knee surgeries, I honestly thought "that's what you get for associating with that gym (Lloyd Irvin)."  That's a terrible thing to say but I did.

Before his comeback fight against TJ Dillishaw, I watched some of the pre-fight shows where they follow them around and you get the behind the scenes.  Maybe it was that I disliked TJ for ditching Alpha Male or maybe there was a human side of Dominic that I saw when I he talked about his struggles with and after the knee surgeries.  I felt for the guy.  Maybe even wanted him to win a little. But then he fought Urijah Faber, who might be one of my favorite fighters of all time, and I wanted him to loose even though I knew he wouldn't.  And then he fought Cody Garbrandt.  We know how that turned out. I have been watching Cody for a while and thought he had a good chance but he looked better than expected.  He beat Dominic at his own game.  His foot work was better and faster.  His timing was perfect.  He made Dominic seem predictable, which is something no one else has been able to do.  That's his strength.  

Dominic suffered his second loss of 24 professional fights.  His first loss in almost 10 years.  And you know what he did, took it all in stride.  His post fight press conference, which was maybe 10-15 minutes after the fight as the Rousey fight was so quick, is a lesson to any athlete.  You should watch it.  Its how you handle a loss.  You admit you messed up, didn't have what it took to win and you say you will fix it next time.  You don't contemplate suicide.  You don't retire.  You will do better next time.  It's a fight game.  You loose.  You learn from it.  You give your all and don't regret it.  

I am a fan of Dominic after that press conference.  

Losses happen.  To all of us.  I have said it many times over, loosing my first amateur fight was the best thing that happened to me.  It gave me a desire to push harder.  To go to my training when I didn't want to.  To do strength and conditioning when none of my other teammates were.  To skip going to happy hour or dinner with friends.  I am not a natural athlete.  I have to work very hard for each little thing I get.  When I started training, I couldn't even jump rope.  I am not saying my footwork is great now, I am just saying its a lot better because I put in the work.  That loss, fueled by desire to put in the work, even when the outcome was unknown.

Winning is great and it makes coming to practice easy.  Loosing is what defines all of us.  The decision about what to do with that loss is how we are judged.  
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